Ajit Pawar
Pawar in 2024
8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 July 2023 Serving with Devendra Fadnavis
Governor	Ramesh Bais
Chief Minister	Eknath Shinde
Ministry and Departments	Finance Planning
Guardian Minister	Pune District
In office 30 December 2019 – 29 June 2022[1]
Governor	Bhagat Singh Koshyari
Chief Minister	Uddhav Thackeray
Ministry and Departments	Finance Planning State Excise Additional charge
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	Minister without Portfolio
Preceded by	President's rule
Succeeded by	Himself
In office 25 October 2012 – 26 September 2014
Governor	Om Prakash Kohli (additional charge) *C. Vidyasagar Rao
Chief Minister	Prithviraj Chavan
Ministry and Departments	Finance Planning Energy
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	President's rule
In office 10 November 2010 – 25 September 2012
Governor	K. Sankaranarayanan
Chief Minister	Prithviraj Chavan
Ministry and Departments	Finance Planning Energy
Preceded by	Chhagan Bhujbal
Succeeded by	Himself
29th Leader of the Opposition Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office 04 July 2022 – 02 July 2023
Governor	Bhagat Singh Koshyari Ramesh Bais
Deputy	Balasaheb Thorat
Chief Minister	Eknath Shinde
Speaker of the House	Zirwal Narhari Sitaram (Acting) Rahul Narwekar
Preceded by	Devendra Fadnavis
Succeeded by	Jitendra Awhad (Acting)
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	Chandrakant Patil Subhash Desai Acting
Succeeded by	Devendra Fadnavis
In office 11 November 2010 – 25 September 2012
Governor	K. Sankaranarayanan
Chairman	Shivajirao Deshmukh
Preceded by	Chhagan Bhujbal
Succeeded by	R. R. Patil
Deputy Leader of the House Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office 30 December 2019 – 29 June 2022
Governor	Bhagat Singh Koshyari
Speaker of the House	Nana Patole Zirwal Narhari Sitaram (Acting)
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	S. C. Jamir K. Sankaranarayanan
Ministry and Departments	Water Resources Krishna Valley Irrigation Corporation Energy
Chief Minister	Ashok Chavan
Preceded by	Sunil Tatkare Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar
Succeeded by	Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar Sunil Tatkare
In office 08 December 2008 – 06 November 2009
Governor	S. C. Jamir
Ministry and Departments	Water Resources Water Supply Sanitation Command Area Development
Chief Minister	Ashok Chavan
In office 09 November 2004 – 01 December 2008
Governor	Mohammed Fazal S. M. Krishna S. C. Jamir
Ministry and Departments	Water Resources Excluding Krishna Valley Corporation
Chief Minister	Vilasrao Deshmukh
Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
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	(1959-07-22) 22 July 1959 (age 64) Deolali Pravara, Bombay State (now in Maharashtra), India
Political party	Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar)
Other political affiliations	National Democratic Alliance (2023–present)
Spouse	Sunetra Pawar
Children	2
Residence(s)	Sahyog, Maharashtra, India
Website	www.ajitpawar.org
Nickname	Ajit Dada

Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: [əd͡ʒit̪ pəʋaːɾ]; born 22 July 1959) is an Indian politician who has served as, alongside Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2 July, 2023.^[2] He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2022 to 2023, and was a Member of the Parliament in the Lok Sabha in 1991, representing Baramati constituency.^[3][4] He has also been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly since 1991, representing Baramati constituency.^[5][6]

He is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party and a four-time former Chief Minister of Maharashtra.^[7][8] He has been Deputy Chief Minister of the state the most number of times and is currently serving his 5th term.^[9] He has also been a Cabinet Minister in the Maharashtra government thrice: from 2004–2008, 2008–2009, and 2009–2010.

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 Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar district.^[14] He subsequently completed his schooling in the same city. He is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party and a four-time former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, being the son of Sharad's elder brother, Anantrao Pawar. Anantrao initially worked for renowned film maker V. Shantaram's Rajkamal Studios in Mumbai.

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 defected from the NCP and was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He submitted a paper with the signatures of NCP's MLAs to the Governor to prove the government's majority; however, the government collapsed less than 80 hours later, resigning along with then-CM Devendra Fadnavis. He subsequently returned to the NCP, and on 1 December 2019, it was announced that he would take over as Deputy CM for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government after the start of the winter session of the state legislature on 16 December.^[18]

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 ^[which?] within the NCP, unlike his cousin Supriya Sule.^{[19][20][verification needed]} He claimed to have the support of the majority of NCP's MLAs, and later the presidency of the NCP. He also said that his faction now represented the "real" NCP, and laid claim to the NCP's name and electoral symbol.^[12]

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

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]