Ajit Pawar
Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: [əd͡ʒit̪ pəʋaːɾ]; born 22 July 1959) is an Indian politician. He is the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,[2] and was the 8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in his latest stint as a minister. [3][4] He was guardian minister for the District of Pune, India.[5]
Ajit Pawar | |
|---|---|
| 29th Leader of the Opposition Maharashtra Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 4 July 2022 | |
| Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
| Deputy | Balasaheb Thorat |
| Speaker of the House | Rahul Narwekar |
| Preceded by | Devendra Fadnavis |
| 8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra | |
| In office 30 December 2019 – 29 June 2022[1] | |
| Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
| Chief Minister | Uddhav Thackeray |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | Devendra Fadnavis |
| In office 23 November 2019 – 26 November 2019 | |
| Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
| Chief Minister | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| In office 25 October 2012 – 26 September 2014 | |
| Governor | |
| Chief Minister | Prithviraj Chavan |
| Ministry and Departments | |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | President's rule |
| In office 10 November 2010 – 25 September 2012 | |
| Governor | |
| Chief Minister | Prithviraj Chavan |
| Ministry and Departments | |
| Preceded by | Chhagan Bhujbal |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| Leader of the House of the Maharashtra Legislative Council | |
| In office 24 February 2020 – 29 June 2022 | |
| Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
| Chairman | Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar |
| Deputy Leader | Subhash Desai |
| Preceded by |
|
| Succeeded by | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Deputy Leader of the House Maharashtra Legislative Assembly | |
| In office 30 December 2019 – 29 June 2022 | |
| Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
| Speaker of the House |
|
| Leader of the House | Uddhav Thackeray |
| Preceded by | Girish Mahajan |
| Succeeded by | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Cabinet Minister Government of Maharashtra | |
| In office 7 November 2009 – 10 November 2010 | |
| Governor | |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Chief Minister | Ashok Chavan |
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | |
| In office 08 December 2008 – 06 November 2009 | |
| Governor | |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Chief Minister | Ashok Chavan |
| In office 09 November 2004 – 01 December 2008 | |
| Governor | |
| Ministry and Departments |
|
| Chief Minister | Vilasrao Deshmukh |
| Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly | |
| Assumed office 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Sharad Pawar |
| Constituency | Baramati |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 03 May 1991 – 20 June 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Shankarrao Bajirao Patil |
| Succeeded by | Sharad Pawar |
| Constituency | Baramati |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 July 1959 Deolali Pravara, Bombay State (now in Maharashtra), India |
| Political party | Nationalist Congress Party |
| Spouse | Sunetra Pawar |
| Children | Parth Pawar Jay Pawar |
| Residence(s) | Sahyog, Maharashtra, India |
| Website | www |
| Nickname | Ajit Dada |
As of 24 October, 2019 | |
He is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly[6] representing Baramati constituency.[7][8] He is the nephew of Sharad Pawar,[9] chief of Nationalist Congress Party. Besides being the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, he was also the Finance Minister of Maharashtra.[10][11]
Early life
Pawar was born on 22 July 1959 at his grandfather's place in Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar district.[12] He completed his schooling in Deolali Pravara. He hails from the village of Katevadi in Baramati taluka, Pune district. He is nephew of the Nationalist Congress Party President, Sharad Pawar. Pawar is son of Sharad Pawar's elder brother, Anantrao Pawar. Anantrao had initially worked for renowned film maker V.Shantaram's Rajkamal Studios in Mumbai. Pawar's grandfather, Govindrao Pawar, was employed with Baramati Co-operative trading and his grandmother looked after the family farm.
Pawar was pursuing a college degree; however, due to the death of his father, he dropped out to help take care of his family. He is educated up to Secondary school level and holds the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) from the Maharashtra State Board.
Political career
While Pawar was pursuing his primary education at Deolali Pravara, his uncle, Sharad Pawar was a rising political figure in the ruling Congress party.[13] Pawar moved to then Bombay for more extensive education. Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982, when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory. He was elected as a chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991 and remained in post for 16 years. During this period he was also elected as Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from the Baramati Parliamentary Constituency. He later vacated his Lok Sabha seat in favour of his uncle, Sharad Pawar, who had then become the defence minister in PV Narasimha Rao's government. Later, he was elected as a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Baramati Assembly Constituency. Pawar was re-elected from the same constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.[14] He went on to become the Minister of State for Agriculture and Power (June 1991 - November 1992) in Sudhakarrao Naik's government.[15]
He became the Minister of State for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning (November 1992 - February 1993) when Sharad Pawar returned to the state as the Chief Minister. When the Indian National Congress-NCP coalition came into power in 1999, Pawar was promoted to cabinet minister in the Irrigation Department (October 1999 - December 2003) in Vilasrao Deshmukh's government. He was given additional charge of the Rural Development Department (December 2003 - October 2004) in Sushilkumar Shinde's government.[15] When Congress-NCP combination returned to power in 2004, he retained the Water Resources Ministry in Deshmukh's government and later in Ashok Chavan's government.
On 23 November 2019, Pawar was sworn as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra State with BJP without his party's consent. He submitted paper with signatures of NCP MLAs to Governor of State. He was on the post for less than 80 hours, becoming Deputy CM with the shortest tenure in Devendra Fadnavis led government. On 1 December 2019, it was announced that Pawar would take over as Deputy Chief Minister for the Maha Vikas Aghadi administration after the commencement of the winter session of the state legislature on 16 December.[16]
Controversies
This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutrality by separating out potentially negative information. (June 2022) |
There are allegations that, as the minister for water resources, he spared no efforts to help in the development of Lavasa,[17] 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.[18]
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 of funds amounting to ₹ 70,000 Crores. These allegations were made by the Maharashtra bureaucrat, Vijay Pandhare, and caused Anjali Damania to request Pawar's resignation as a minister. However, the allegations were not proven, and he was successfully reinstated as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.[19]
On 7 April 2013, Pawar in an attempt at being comical about his inability to bring waters to the dams, made a controversial statement in a speech at Indapur. Activists were fasting for 55 days in Maharashtra, against the Maharashtra government and their incompetence of not providing relief in the form of water to citizens suffering from the drought. In response to this, in a speech at large crowd gathering, Pawar stated: "If there is no water in the dam ... Should we urinate into it?". Due to the political and media pressure, he publicly apologized for the statement, admitting that the comment was the biggest mistake of his life.[20]
See also
References
- ^ ""Not Accepted Happily": Sharad Pawar On Devendra Fadnavis's Number 2 Post". NDTV.com.
- ^ "Ajit Pawar new Opposition leader in Maharashtra assembly | India News - Times of India". The Times of India.
- ^ Anuja (30 December 2019). "Thackeray expands Maharashtra cabinet, Ajit Pawar is deputy CM". livemint.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Deputy CM for fourth time: The return of Ajit Pawar". India Today. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Ajit Pawar is guardian minister of Pune district". The Indian Express. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Baramati Election Result 2019 Live: Baramati MLA Election Result & Vote Share - Oneindia". oneindia.com. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Rana, Lakshya (24 October 2019). "Baramati Vidhan Sabha Chunav Results Live Updates: बारामती में 1,65,265 वोटों से जीते एनसीपी के अजित पवार, भाजपा प्रत्याशी को हराया". India TV Hindi (in Hindi). Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Surprise, surprise: Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra CM, Ajit Pawar Dy CM". India Today. 23 November 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ^ "How Sharad Pawar outwitted his nephew Ajit". Hindustan Times. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ Deshpande, Alok (5 January 2020). "Maharashtra portfolios: Ajit Pawar gets Finance, Anil Deshmukh Home Ministry". The Hindu. PTI. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Ajit Pawar Bags Finance as Uddhav Govt Announces Portfolios, Tourism & Env for Aaditya Thackeray". News18. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Ajit Aanantrao Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party):Constituency- Baramati (Pune) - Affidavit Information of Candidate". myneta.info. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Ajit Pawar". NDTV. from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
- ^ "Baramati stays with Ajit Pawar". The Indian Express. 20 October 2014. from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- ^ a b "Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra". maharashtrasadan.maharashtra.gov.in. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ Marpakwar, Prafulla (2 December 2019). "Ajit Pawar to be deputy CM after winter session begins". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
- ^ "Lavasa's journey downhill". Down To Earth. 15 April 2011. from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
- ^ "Lavasa exposed". Down To Earth. 15 April 2011. from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
- ^ "Ajit Pawar reinstated". Business Standard India. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
- ^ . The Times of India. 8 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 June 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
External links
- Official website
- Media related to Ajit Pawar at Wikimedia Commons