Ajit Pawar

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Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation:

In 2019, he joined a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and became the Deputy Chief Minister; he claimed to have the support of a majority of the NCP's MLA's, but resigned from his post, alongside then-CM Devendra Fadnavis.^[10] In 2023, he led another split in the NCP and became the Deputy Chief Minister in the cabinet of CM Eknath Shinde. Having the support of the majority of the erstwhile NCP's MLAs, he also claimed the position of president of the NCP, as well as the party's name and its electoral symbol.^[11][12]In 7 February 2024, The Election Commission Of India (ECI) awarded the party name and symbol to the faction headed by Ajit.The faction led by Sharad Pawar will be henceforth known as Nationalist Congress Party (SharadChandra Pawar).^[13]

Early life

Ajit Pawar was born on 22 July, 1959, in

Pawar dropped out of college to help his family after the death of his father. He is educated up to the senior secondary level and holds the Secondary School Certificate from the Maharashtra State Board.^{[clarification needed]}

Political career

When Ajit was in primary school, his uncle Sharad was a rising political figure in the then-ruling Indian National Congress.^[15] Ajit made his first foray into politics in 1982, when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory. He was elected the chairman of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank in 1991, remaining in the post for the next 16 years. During this period, he was also elected to the Lok Sabha, representing the Baramati Parliamentary constituency. He later vacated his Lok Sabha seat for his uncle, who had become the Defence Minister in Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's government. Later, he was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Baramati Assembly constituency. Pawar was re-elected from the same constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.^[16] He served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Power in CM Sudhakarrao Naik's government from 1991 to 1992.^[17]

He became the Minister of State for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning in 1992 when Sharad Pawar became the Chief Minister. In 1999, as part of the INC-NCP coalition government, he became a Cabinet Minister responsible for the Irrigation Department. He was additionally given the Rural Development Department in 2003 as part of Sushilkumar Shinde's cabinet.^[17] After the INC-NCP coalition won in the 2004 Assembly elections, he retained the Water Resources Ministry in Deshmukh's and later Ashok Chavan's cabinets.^{[citation needed]}

On 23 November 2019, Pawar

In 2022, due to a split in the Shiv Sena, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed. After the rebel Shiv Sena faction and BJP formed a government with Eknath Shinde as CM, Pawar became the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.^{[citation needed]}

Electoral performance

Rebellion against Sharad Pawar

On 2 July 2023, Ajit Pawar split the NCP and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition, being sworn in as Deputy CM for the fourth time. His actions were believed to have been caused by his dissatisfaction at the lack of a post ^[

In his faction's first assembly after the split, Ajit criticized his uncle, calling him biased towards the latter's daughter, Supriya Sule. He also said that his uncle had insulted him, accused his uncle of hypocrisy, and urged him to retire from politics.^[citation needed]

Controversies

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There are allegations that, as the minister for water resources, he spared no efforts to help in the development of Lavasa,^[21] a project touted as a "vision of Sharad Pawar". The Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) leased 141.15 ha (348.8 acres) to Lavasa in August 2002, which included part of the Warasgaon dam reservoir. The lease between MKVDC and Lavasa was executed at rates far below the market rate.^[22]

He told the Indian Election Commission in 2004 that he had financial assets of more than 3 crore Rupees at that time.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2012, there were accusations that there had been misappropriation ₹70,000 crores. These allegations were made by the Maharashtrian bureaucrat Vijay Pandhare, and caused the anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania to demand Pawar's resignation as a minister. However, the allegations were not proven, and Ajit was reinstated as the Deputy CM of Maharashtra.^[23]

On 7 April 2013, Pawar's statement at a speech in Indapur sparked controversy due to its alleged callousness. In response to a 55-day fast by activists protesting the Maharashtra governments inability to provide water during a drought, he asked whether he should "urinate into [the dam]" to make up for the lack of water in it. After a public outcry against his statement, he publicly apologized, saying that the comment was the "biggest mistake of [his] life".^[24]

References

External links

• Media related to Ajit Pawar at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website