Sharad Pawar

This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation:

Pawar comes from Baramati of Maharashtra. He is the patriarch of the influential political family—the Pawar Family—and a prominent face in Maharashtra politics. Other politicians from the family include his daughter Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar his nephew, Rohit Rajendra Pawar a nephew's son and other members of his extended family.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Outside of politics, Pawar has served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2005 to 2008 and as the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2010 to 2012.^[7] He was the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association from October 2013 to January 2017.^[8]

In 2017, the Indian government conferred upon him

Pawar is one of the eleven children born to Govindrao Pawar and Shardabai Pawar.^[citation needed]^[10] The ancestors of Govindrao had moved to Baramati from the nearby Satara. Govindrao had a long career in Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh, a Baramati Farmers' Cooperative. He also managed Shahu boarding, a students' hostel, in the 1940s.^[11] In the 1950s he was instrumental in setting up cooperative sugar mills in the Baramati region. Shardabai Pawar was elected to the district local board three times between 1937 and 1952.^[12] She looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometres from Baramati.^{[citation needed]}

Pawar studied at Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) in Pune. He was an average student but active in student politics. Most of his siblings were well educated and successful in their respective professions.^[13]

Vasantrao, the eldest brother of Pawar and a lawyer, was murdered over a land deal by a man who was suspected to be a hired assassin.

He is the oldest and senior most member of Pawar political dynastic family of Maharashtra. The family have 2 Members of Parliament and 2 Members of Legislative Assembly in the state assembly,. Among them, Ajit Pawar was the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.[15]^[4][16][17]

In 1999, Pawar was diagnosed with

Pawar's first political activity was when he was a school-going student. He organized a protest march for Goan Independence in Pravaranagar in 1956.^[13] At college, he was active in student politics. Although his older lawyer brother belonged to Peasants and Workers Party, the young Pawar preferred the Congress party and joined Youth Congress in 1958.^[13] He later became the president of Poona district (now Pune district) youth Congress in 1962. By 1964, he was one of the two secretaries of Maharashtra youth congress and in regular contact with influential leaders of the party.^{[citation needed]}

1967–1978

Early in his career, Pawar was regarded as a protégé of Yashwantrao Chavan, a highly influential politician from Maharashtra at that time.^[21][22] At the young age of 27 in 1967, Pawar was nominated as the candidate for the Baramati constituency of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly over more established members by the undivided Congress Party.^{[citation needed]} He won the election and represented the constituency from 1967 to 1990. In 1969, when the Congress party split after the 1969 Indian presidential election he opted for the Congress(R) faction of prime minister Indira Gandhi along with his mentor Yashwantrao Chavan. As the MLA of Baramati in the early 1970s, he was instrumental in building percolation tanks during a severe drought in Maharashtra. Like most Congress party politicians from rural western Maharashtra, he was also heavily involved in the politics of the local cooperative sugar mills and other member run cooperatives societies. In the early 1970s, the then chief minister Vasantrao Naik had been power for a long time and there was jockeying for succession among different factions of the state Congress party. At that time, looking to the future leadership of the party, Yashwantrao Chavan persuaded Naik to bring Pawar into his cabinet as state home affairs minister.^[when?][23] Pawar continued as home affairs minister in the 1975-77 government of Shankarrao Chavan, who succeeded Naik as the chief minister.^{[citation needed]}

1978-1987

In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, Congress party, under Indira Gandhi, lost power to the Janata Alliance. Taking responsibility for the loss of large number of seats in Maharashtra, chief minister Shankarrao Chavan resigned shortly afterwards and was replaced by Vasantdada Patil. Later in the year, the Congress party split, with Pawar's mentor, Yashwantrao Chavan joining one faction, Congress (U), and Indira Gandhi leading her own faction, Congress (I). Pawar himself joined Congress (U). In the state assembly elections held early in 1978, the two Congress parties ran separately but then formed an alliance to keep power under Vasantdada Patil and deny it to Janata Party which emerged as the biggest single party after the election, but without a majority. Pawar served as Minister of Industry and Labour in the Patil government.^[24]

In July 1978, Pawar broke away from the Congress (U) party to form a coalition government with the Janata Party. In the process, at the age of 38, he became the youngest

His return to Congress (I) in 1987 has been cited as a reason for the rise of the Shiv Sena at that time.^[28] Pawar had stated at the time, "the need to save the Congress Culture in Maharashtra", as his reason for returning to Congress. In June 1988, Prime Minister of India and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi decided to induct then Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan into his Union Cabinet as Finance Minister and Pawar was chosen to replace Chavan as the chief minister. Pawar had the task of checking the rise of the Shiv Sena in state politics, which was a potential challenge to the dominance of Congress in the state.^[29] In the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won 28 seats out of 48 in Maharashtra. In the state assembly elections of February 1990, the alliance between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party posed a stiff challenge to Congress. Congress fell short of an absolute majority in the state assembly, winning 141 seats out of 288. Pawar was sworn in as chief minister again on 4 March 1990 with the support of 12 independent or unaffiliated members of the legislative assembly (MLAs).^{[citation needed]}

Early 1990s

During the course of the 1991 election campaign, former

In 1993, the Deputy Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, G. R. Khairnar made a series of accusations against Pawar for being involved in corruption and protecting criminals.^[34][35] Though Khairnar could not produce any evidence in support of his claims, it inevitably affected Pawar's popularity. Notable social worker Anna Hazare started a fast-unto-death to demand the expulsion of 12 officers of the Maharashtra state forest department who had been accused of corruption. The opposition parties accused Pawar's government of trying to shield the corrupt officers.^{[citation needed]}

The

After the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Pawar joined the

In 2007, the BJP asked for Pawar's resignation after alleging he was involved in a multi-crore Indian rupee (INR) scam involving wheat imports. In May 2007, a tender floated by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for procurement of wheat was cancelled when the lowest bid received was for US$263/ton. The government subsequently allowed private traders to purchase wheat directly from farmers that year resulting in a paucity of wheat to stock FCI granaries. By July 2007 the shortage at FCI was large enough to require import of wheat at a much higher price of 320–360 USD/ton. Taking advantage of this, traders who had domestically purchased wheat at 900 INR/ton earlier, were now offering the same to FCI at 1,300 INR/ton.^[41][42]

Agricultural produce prices

As the Minister of Agriculture, Pawar was consistently accused of colluding in the extreme hike in prices of agricultural produce:

• Wheat import in 2007 – The Bombay High Court issued notices to Union agriculture minister Pawar, questioning the decision to import defective red wheat, and asking for a directive to submit details of procurement of the crop from different states and the exact process of importing it.^[43][44]
• Sugar prices in 2009 – Opposition parties, including the BJP and the CPI(M) accused Pawar of engineering a steep rise in the price of sugar to the advantage of hoarders and importers.^[45]
• Wheat, Sugar, Rice, and Bean prices in 2009–2010 – The opposition accused Pawar to be responsible on the issue of spiraling prices.^[46]

Farmer suicides

Since the 1990s there had been a high number of farmer suicides in India: in excess of 10,000 per year, and totalling over 200,000 between 1997 and 2010.^[47] Pawar, as the agricultural minister, in 2006 had underplayed the rate of farmer suicide in India.^[48] However, he claimed at that time that his department was taking the necessary steps to reduce the numbers.^{[49][citation needed]} His ministry initiated a series of government inquiries to look into the causes of farmers' suicides in 2012. In 2013 Pawar admitted that the suicides was a serious issue with many factors being responsible, and he said the government was increasing investment in agriculture and raising minimum prices of crops to increase farmers' income.^[50]

Promotion of endosulfan

Even though the pesticide endosulfan has been banned, India is slow to phase it out. In spite of its known negative health effects, Pawar made a remark that endosulfan is not yet proved dangerous. This remark prompted activist Dr. Vandana Shiva to call him a corrupt minister.^[51][52][53]

Other issues

In 2012, Pawar gave up the chairmanship of the Empowered Group of Ministers investigating the 2G spectrum case, days after his appointment by the prime minister, fearing that his association with the decision-making process would drag him into the 2G Spectrum controversy.^[54] In 2011, he also decided to resign from the committee that was reviewing the draft of the anti-corruption Lokpal bill after his inclusion in the committee was criticized by the anti-corruption campaigner, Anna Hazare.^[55]

Career since 2014

In January 2012, Pawar announced that he would not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, in order to make way for younger leadership.^[56] Pawar is at present a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was elected to the body in April 2014 for a six-year term. He lost his ministerial position when the BJP-led NDA defeated the ruling UPA government, in which Pawar was the minister of agriculture, in the general elections of 2014.^[57] Pawar's NCP also lost power in Maharashtra after the 2014 assembly elections. The BJP had won a plurality of seats in the new assembly and initially formed a minority government with the NCP.^[58] The BJP's estranged ally, the Shiv Sena later joined the BJP-led government, and that government then did not need the support of the NCP. In May 2017, Pawar ruled out being a candidate for the June 2017 Indian presidential election.^[59]

In the 2019 elections to the Lok Sabha, Pawar's NCP and the Congress party had a seat-sharing arrangement.^[60] Similarly, despite their differences, the BJP and Shiv Sena once again contested the elections together under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) banner.^[61] The election gave a landslide victory to Narendra Modi's BJP. Out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra, the Congress party won only one seat in the state, whereas the NCP won five seats from its stronghold of western Maharashtra.^[62]

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were soon followed by elections to the Vidhan Sabhaa in October 2019.^{[citation needed]} Predictions for the state's ruling BJP–Shiv Sena alliance to win by a large margin led to a steady stream of defections from the NCP to the ruling alliance. Pawar was the star campaigner for the NCP-Congress alliance in the state.His campaigning during the assembly election was credited with helping not only the NCP but also the leaderless Congress party.^[63] Against predictions, the actual voting left the ruling alliance with fewer seats than in 2014. After the election, Pawar thought that his party would remain in opposition in the new assembly. However, differences between the Shiv Sena and the BJP led to a month of political drama, with Pawar and his family playing a pivotal roles. The drama ended with the NCP coming back into power on 28 November 2019, as part of a coalition between Shiv Sena, Congress, and the NCP, led by the Shiv Sena chief, Uddhav Thackeray, as the new chief minister of Maharashtra.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2020, Pawar was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.^[64]

Sharad Pawar, the founder and chief of NCP since 1999, announced his decision to step down from his post and also his unwillingness to contest election in future,at the launch of the second edition of his political memoirs ' Lok Maze Sangati' ('People Accompany Me'). Sharad Pawar has had a long period of public life from 1 May 1960, to 1 May 2023.^[65]

Sharad Pawar took back his decision to step down as national leader of National Congress Party, citing "strong sentiments" his resignation had evoked among the party workers as well as leaders across the country. The octogenarian leader clarified that he would focus on assigning new responsibilities, through organizational changes and creating new leadership.^[66]

2023 Ajit Pawar's rebellion

In July 2023, Ajit Pawar rebelled against Sharad Pawar and joined ruling BJP-Shiv sena government and took oath as Deputy Chief minister of Maharashtra, majority of NCP's sitting MLAs deserted the party in support of A. Pawar. He claimed to election commission that he's the president of NCP, later in his followers first public meeting, he claimed the ownership of party including its name, election symbol. This rebellion results in to two factions in the party : Sharad Pawar loyalist and Ajit Pawar's supporters, causing 2022 Shiv sena like political crisis for Sharad Pawar^[67]

Member of coordination committee of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance

Pawar has been appointed as a member of the Coordination Committee of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at its Mumbai convention on 1 September 2023.^[68][69] The coordination committee will decide the national agenda, common campaign issues and common program of the country's main opposition alliance (I.N.D.I.A.).

Sports administration

Pawar has interests in

• Mumbai Cricket Association^[70]
• Maharashtra Wrestling Association
• Maharashtra Kabbadi Association
• Maharashtra Kho Kho Association
• Maharashtra Olympics Association
• Board of Control for Cricket in India President 2005–2008
• International Cricket Council Vice President^[71]
• International Cricket Council President^[72]

Pawar served as the president of Pune International Marathon Trust, which has hosted Pune International Marathon for last 22 years.^{[citation needed]}

Educational institutions

Early in his public career in 1972, Pawar founded

In 1992–93, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik made a statement that the state leader of Indian National Congress party and erstwhile-Chief Minister Pawar, had asked him to "go easy on Pappu Kalani", a well known criminal-turned-politician.^[77] Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, later concurred with these allegations.^[78] Further, Chief Minister Naik also alleged that it was possible that Kalani and Hitendra Thakur, another criminal-turned-politician from Virar, had been given tickets to contest election for the Maharashtra State Legislature at the behest of Pawar, who also put in a word for Naik with the police when the latter was arrested for his role in post-Demolition of the Babri Masjid riots in Mumbai.^[79]

Pawar is also alleged to have close links with the underworld don

• Two 141.15-acre (57.12 ha) plots given allotted to Vidya Pratishthan, an educational society headed by Sharad Pawar
• A 2-acre (0.81 ha) plot allotted to Anant Smriti Pratishthan, headed by Ajit Pawar, the Maharashtra state minister for irrigation and Pawar's nephew
• A 32.12-acre (13.00 ha) plot allotted to Lavasa Corporation, owned by Sule. Sule handed over his share in 2006.^[clarification needed]^{[citation needed]}
• A 1-acre (0.40 ha) plot allotted to Shivajinagar Agriculture College
• A 3-acre (1.2 ha) plot allotted to Sharadchandraji Scout and Guide Training Institute.

These allocations were allegedly made by NCP leader and minister Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar who was in charge of MKVDC at the time.^[83][84] Pawar was served a contempt of court notice on 1 May 2008 in connection with this case for issuing statements to the press even though the matter was subjudice at the time. Also in connection with the case, the respondents were directed not to create third-party interests in the property under dispute and to undertake any developments at their own risk.^[85][86]

IPL exemption from tax controversy

In 2010, in the case of tax exemptions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Shiv Sena MLA Subhash Desai alleged that the state cabinet decided in January to impose the tax, before the year's IPL season started, but the decision was not implemented because of NCP chief Pawar's association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).^[87] Bombay High Court in August 2010 said there was "nothing on record" to show that the Union Minister influenced the Maharashtra government's decision to exempt Indian Premier League matches from entertainment tax.^[88]

Asset declaration

In 2011, Pawar declared his assets to be worth ₹120 million (equivalent to ₹250 million or US$3.1 million in 2023) as part of a mandatory disclosure, but his critics claimed that his wealth far exceeded the stated amount.^[89][90] In 2010, it was alleged that the Pawar family indirectly held a 16% stake in the City Corporation, which had bid ₹11.76 billion (equivalent to ₹26 billion or US$330 million in 2023) for the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pawar and his family denied the allegations, but the bidders board of the IPL contradicted their claims.^[91][92][93]

Nira Radia's allegations

In 2011, under investigation of the

Pawar is alleged to have demanded compensation for allowing the planned-city Lavasa to be constructed. When Lavasa Corporation was receiving necessary clearances from the government of Maharashtra, relatives of Pawar had part-ownership of the company developing the project.^[95] Pawar's daughter and son-in-law had more than 20% ownership between 2002 and 2004, and they later sold their stakes.^[96] A nephew of his was chairman of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) when the MKVDC signed off on lease agreements for Lavasa and allowed it to store water and build dams.^[95][97][98]

Comments on the 2010 Pune bombing

After the 2010 Pune bombing of German Bakery, Pawar appeared to take the incident lightly. He said to the reporters, "It is not alright to arrive at a conclusion that the entire Pune city has been targeted. The place where the blast took place is an isolated area", adding "when I was Chief Minister, Mumbai saw 11 simultaneous blasts but everything returned to normal soon."^[99]

Slapping incident

Pawar was slapped by a youth named Harvinder Singh at the New Delhi Municipal Corporation centre while leaving the premises after attending a literary function on 24 November 2011.^[100] The attacker, who previously is said to have assaulted former telecom minister Sukh Ram, was later arrested.

Turban controversy

In 2018, Pawar asked party members to felicitate him with the pagadi (

• BJP.^[105]
• Newsmakers Achievers Awards 2022[106]

See also

• First Sharad Pawar ministry
• Political families of Maharashtra

Explanatory notes

References

Further reading

• P. K. Ravindranath (1 February 1992) Sharad Pawar- the making of a modern maratha South Asia Books.
  ISBN 81-85674-46-9
• Page 23 of the Times of India, New Delhi, India, Tuesday, 12 December 2006
• Profile at BBC News
• Profile at government of India website

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sharad Pawar.

• Sharad Pawar on
  Twitter

Article based on personal experience with Sharad Pawar

Political offices
Preceded by Vasantdada Patil	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 18 July 1978 – 17 February 1980	Succeeded by A R Antule
Preceded by Shankarrao Chavan	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 26 June 1988 – 25 June 1991	Succeeded by Sudhakarrao Naik
Preceded by Chandra Shekhar	Minister of Defence 26 June 1991 – 6 March 1993	Succeeded by P. V. Narasimha Rao
Preceded by Shankarrao Chavan	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 6 March 1993 – 14 March 1995	Succeeded by Manohar Joshi
Preceded by Rajnath Singh	Minister of Agriculture 23 May 2004 - 26 May 2014	Succeeded by Radha Mohan Singh
Preceded by Sharad Yadav	Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 23 May 2004 - 19 January 2011	Succeeded by K. V. Thomas
Lok Sabha
Preceded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha 19 March 1998 – 26 April 1999	Succeeded by Sonia Gandhi
Preceded by Shankarrao Bajirao Patil	Member of Parliament for Baramati 1984-1985	Succeeded by Sambhajirao Kakade
Preceded by Ajit Pawar	Member of Parliament for Baramati 1991-1994	Succeeded by Bapusaheb Thite
Preceded by Bapusaheb Thite	Member of Parliament for Baramati 1996-2004	Succeeded by Supriya Sule
Civic offices
Preceded by Rameshwar Thakur	Presidents of the Bharat Scouts and Guides 2001–2004	Succeeded by Rameshwar Thakur
Preceded by Ranbir Singh Mahendra	President, Board of Control for Cricket in India 2005–2008	Succeeded by Shashank Manohar
Preceded by David Morgan	President, International Cricket Council 2010–2012	Succeeded by Alan Issac
Party political offices
Preceded by D. Devaraj Urs	President of the Indian Congress (Socialist) 1981–1986	Merged with the Indian National Congress
Preceded by position established	Leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in the Lok Sabha 1998–2014	Succeeded by Supriya Sule