His political journey began in the 1980s when he ventured into electoral politics. He contested the Assembly election from the Shrivardhan constituency in Raigad on a Congress ticket and became an MLA for the first time in 1995. In 1999, when Sharad Pawar parted ways with the Congress to form the NCP, he moved to the newly floated party.

has held several ministerial positions in the Maharashtra government, including Minister of State for Urban Development and Ports from 1999 to 2003, Water Resources and Finance in the Congress-NCP coalition government, and Energy Minister in 2004.

He also served as the Water Resources Minister from November 2010 to September 2014 and held the Finance and Planning portfolio from November 2009 to November 2010. In 2019, he won the Lok Sabha election from Raigad constituency.

His political career has been marked by controversies, including allegations of irregularities in irrigation projects during Ajit Pawar's tenure as the irrigation minister. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is probing Tatkare in this case, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also begun a preliminary enquiry against him in 2012.