Earlier he had been the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra, but was forced to resign after being convicted by the Bombay High Court on charges that he had extorted money for a trust fund he managed.

In the 2009 Indian general elections, he lost to Anant Geete from the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency of Maharashtra.

Antulay was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 1962[2] to 1976, during which time he served in the Maharashtra state government as Minister of State for Law and Judiciary, Ports and Fisheries and then as Minister of Law & Judiciary, Building, Communication and Housing from October 1969 to February 1976.

From June 1995 to May 1996, he was Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and from February to May 1996 he was additionally in charge of Water Resources.

As a social worker his notable achievements include construction of (i) a jetty on the bank of Savitri River, Bankot (Khadi) Creek through local people offering free labor (shramdan in Marathi) to complete the task.

He had a keen interest in the uplifting of the weaker sections of the society and as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra had launched Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana (a monthly financial aid scheme for poor and destitute), pension and housing facilities for legislators and media persons, and many more initiatives.

[7] Antulay died from chronic Kidney failure on 2 December 2014 while being treated at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai.

[7] He has also published several books: He resigned as Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the Bombay High Court convicted him of extortion on 13 January 1982.

The then US ambassador, in some of the US embassy cables, accused that this early dismissal, then followed by tacit promotion, indicates that "the Congress Party will readily stoop to the old caste/religious-based politics if it feels it is in its interest.