Ajit Pawar

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Ajit Pawar

9th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra

In office
23 November 2019 – 26 November 2019

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

Preceded by President's rule

Succeeded by currently vacant

 In office
25 October 2012 – 26 September 2014

Governor Kateekal Sankaranarayanan

Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan

Preceded by Chhagan Bhujbal

In office
10 November 2010 – 25 September 2012

Governor S.C. Jamir

Kateekal Sankaranarayanan

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan

Preceded by vacant

Succeeded by President's rule

Member of Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra

Incumbent

Assumed office
1991

Preceded by Sharad Pawar

Constituency Baramati

Personal details

Born 22 July 1959 (age 60)

Deolali Pravara, Bombay State, India
 Political party Nationalist Congress Party

Spouse(s) Sunetra Pawar

Children Parth Pawar

Jay Pawar

Residence Sahyog, Baramati, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Website http://www.ajitpawar.org/

As of 24 October, 2019

Ajit Anantrao Pawar (born 22 July 1959) was an MLA from the Baramati constituency of
the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly politician in Maharashtra.[1] He is the nephew of Sharad
Pawar, the chief of Nationalist Congress Party.

Contents

 1Early life
 2Political Career
 3Criticism and allegations of corruption
 4Personal life
 5See also
 6References
 7External links

Early life
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Ajit Anantrao Pawar was born on 22 July 1959 at his grandfather's place in Deolali Pravara,
Ahmednagar district. He completed his schooling in Deolali, Pravara. He hails from the village of
Katevadi in Baramati Taluka, Pune district. He is the Nephew of the Nationalist Congress
Party President, Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Pawar is the son of Sharad Pawar's elder brother Anantrao Pawar. Anantrao had initially
worked for renowned film maker, V.Shantaram's "Rajkamal Studios" in Bombay (present-day
Mumbai). Ajit Pawar's grandfather Govindrao Pawar was employed with Baramati Co-operative
trading and his grandmother looked after the family farm. Pawar was pursuing his graduation but
he had to leave formal education due to untimely death of his father, so he left college and
started looking after his family. He is educated upto Secondary school level and holds the
Secondary School Certificate (SSC) from the Maharashtra State Board.
Political Career
While Ajit Pawar [2] was pursuing his primary education at Deolali Pravara, his Uncle, Sharad
Pawar had become a rising political figure in the ruling Congress party. Therefore, Ajit moved to
Bombay for his further education. Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was
elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory . He was elected chairman of the Pune
District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991 and remained in the post for 16 years. During this
period he was also elected as Member of parliament, Lok Sabha from the Baramati. He later
vacated his Lok Sabha seat in favour of his uncle, Sharad Pawar, who had then become defence
minister in PV Narasimha Rao's government. Thereafter, he was elected as a member of the
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Baramati. Pawar was re-elected from the same
constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.[3] He went on to become minister of state for
Agriculture and Power (June 1991 - November 1992) in Sudhakarrao Naik's government. Later
he became minister of state for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning (November 1992 -
February 1993) when Sharad Pawar returned to the state as chief minister. When the Indian
National Congress-NCP coalition came into power in 1999, Pawar was promoted to cabinet
minister, firstly 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. 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. He also became the Guardian minister for
Pune district in 2004 and held the post until the Congress - NCP coalition lost power in 2014. He
was the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra State from 23rd to 26th November 2019.

Criticism and allegations of corruption

There are allegations that as the minister for water resources he spared no efforts to help in the
development of Lavasa,[4] 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 Warasgaon dam reservoir. The lease between MKVDC and
Lavasa was executed at rates far below the market rate.[5]
In September 2012, there were accusations that there had been misappropriation of funds
amounting to Rs. 70,000 Crores(about $13 billion). These allegations were made by a
Maharashtra bureaucrat, Vijay Pandhare, and caused Anjali Damani to request Pawar's
resignation as a minister. However, the allegations were not proved and hence he was reinstated
as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.[6]