Nila Vikhe Patil, the advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister, is the daughter of educationist Ashok Vikhe Patil. She is the granddaughter of sugar baron Balasaheb Vikhe Patil who was also an MP. She is also the niece of Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly.
She will be renewing her stint as the political advisor for Kjell Stefan Lofven who has been the Swedish Prime Minister since 2014. Nila was earlier his political advisor for two years.
She is also elected to be part of the City Council of the Stockholm Municipal Corporation.
"Nila has been appointed as the Political Adviser to the Prime Minister's Office in charge of Finance and will handle taxes, budgets, financial markets and housing," Ashok was quoted as saying by PTI.
Nila was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and an Indian father. She spent the initial years of her life in Ahmednagar in India. When her parents separated, she moved to Stockholm with her mother.
However, the separation did not stop her from talking to her father and grandfather every day. She also did not allow the distance to lose her connection with India. She loves Maharashtrian food like pithla, bhakri, and varan bhaat (dal rice), reports Times of India.
"I love India dearly and I feel very connected. I have lots of close Indian friends. I miss my grandfather a lot. He used to call me almost weekly during his last years," Nila told PTI.
She added, "I also hope that India will make smart ecological choices as it develops to avoid all the environmental problems and further impact on climate change that will now be one of the world's greatest challenges to overcome."
Education and political career
Nila has a Bachelor's degree and two MBA degrees - from Gothenburg School of Business and University de Complutense in Madrid.
She has served as board members of several companies like the Swedish Young Greens, Green Party Gothenburg, Board of the Green Party and Green students of Sweden.
She is also the member of Green Party Stockholm's executive committee.
