Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who took oath as the Deputy chief minister of Maharashtra after joining the Eknath Shinde-led government, is the son of Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Anantrao. He made his first foray into politics by being elected to the board of a sugar cooperative in 1982.
In 1991, Ajit became the chairman of Pune District Cooperative Bank, a post he served for the next 16 years. Elected as an MP to the Lok Sabha from Baramati in 1991, Ajit later vacated the seat for Sharad Pawar who was the defence minister in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. He later went on to become a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Baramati Assembly Constituency.
By Pawar’s side since 1991-’92, he harboured dreams of being the heir apparent after Pawar broke away from the Congress to form the NCP in 1999. He was elected as MLA from the Baramati Assembly Constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014. and previously in 2019 winning by a vote margin of 1,65,265 votes.
Ajit was elevated to the Cabinet minister rank in Maharashtra at the age of 40 in 1999 after having served as a junior minister for over nine years.
He has taken charge of some heavyweight ministries such as Irrigation, rural development, water resources, and finance that helped him spread his clout throughout the state, including his own pocket borough of west Maharashtra.
In 2019, problems cropped up between uncle and nephew as Ajit demanded that his son Parth be fielded from Maval constituency. It was said that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar had dropped his plans to contest Lok Sabha elections from Madha constituency to make way for Parth to contest from Maval.
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