After returning from England, he practiced civil law in the Bombay High Court, where he quickly rose through the ranks as a lawyer and was elevated to the position of an advocate general.
After being appreciated as a skilled lawyer by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, he was asked to join the Indian National Congress.
He held several key portfolios, including Finance, Urban Development, Housing, Industry, and Revenue, in the state cabinet under various chief ministers in the following years.
His most successful tenure was in 1991, when he served as a finance minister[5] and drafted a surplus budget of Rupees 272 Crore/approx US$60 million, for the state of Maharashtra.
"Being a Lawyer is what I love when I am not a politician" he quoted when asked about his preference of politics over legal practice by a judge of the Bombay High Court.