Who Is Ajit Pawar? The NCP Leader's Political Journey In 10 Points

NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led government as Deputy Chief Minister after splitting the party.

While Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister by Governor Ramesh Bais at a ceremony held in the Raj Bhavan, eight other NCP leaders took oath as ministers in the government which has the Shiv Sena and the BJP in alliance.

Who Is Ajit Pawar?

1. Ajit Pawar, son of NCP chief Sharad Pawar's elder brother late Anant Pawar, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.

2. He forayed into politics in 1982 as member on the board of a cooperative sugar factory. Ajit was elected as chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Bank in 1991 and remained on the post for many years.
3. He was elected as an MP from Baramati in 1991, but vacated the post for uncle Sharad Pawar, who became Defence Minister in the Narasimha Rao government. Later, Ajit Pawar was elected as MLA from Baramati and went on to represent the constituency for six terms.
4. He first became the minister of state for agriculture and power in the Sudharkarrao Naik government and later a cabinet minister in 1999.

5. Ajit Pawar's close aides and family members have been facing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in their sugar cooperative units.
6. In 2014, Devendra Fadnavis who was in the opposition, highlighted Ajit Pawar's alleged involvement in the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. It was during Ajit Pawar's tenure as water resources minister that allegations of irregularities surfaced in irrigation projects in the state.

7. Ajit Pawar also served as Deputy CM during the 15-year tenure of Congress-NCP government under Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan.

8. In the 2019 assembly elections, Ajit Pawar was re-elected from Baramati Assembly constituency with the highest margin of more than 1.65 lakh votes in the state.

9. In November 2019, Ajit Pawar were sworn in as the deputy CM for the shortest term as the government led by BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, which took oath in a hush-hush ceremony in the Raj Bhawan, lasted just 80 hours.
10. He again became the deputy chief minister in the MVA government led by Thackeray and remained in the position for two-and- half years, till the alliance government collapsed in June last year. Apart from handling finance portfolio in the Congress-NCP and MVA governments, Ajit Pawar has also handled water resources and power departments.