Ajit Pawar: The Ultimate Political Player Who Challenged The Patriarch (image-facebook/Ajit Pawar)

Ajit Pawar is a prominent leader of the National Congress party who has held several prominent roles in Maharashtra’s political landscape. He has served as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra in the Uddhav Thackeray- led Maha Vikas Aghadi government from November 2019 to June 2022. 

Ajit Pawar is known for his grassroots leadership and administrative abilities and has even held the position of Finance minister of Maharashtra. 

After the major split between BJP and Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar was sworn as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra alongside Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, the government only lasted for 80 hours and thereby he became the shortest-serving DCM in India. 

But this turn of events has garnered him a good amount of support from other members of NCP which caused a significant split in the party. The event weekended the MVA alliance that includes NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena. 

Ajit Pawar is the son of NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s elder brother Anant Pawar. He had earlier served as the deputy chief minister during the 15-year tenure of the Congress-NCP government under Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan. 

Ajit Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 as a member of the board of a cooperative sugar factory. He was elected as MLA from the Baramati Assembly constituency in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. In 2014, Devendra Fadnavis who was in the opposition highlighted Ajith Pawar’s alleged involvement in the Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. It was during Ajit Pawar’s tenure as water resources minister that allegation of irregularities surfaced in irrigation projects in the state. 

In the Lok Sabha election, Ajit Pawar who now commands the real NCP party and the iconic clock symbol has pitted his wife Sunetra Pawar against Sharad Pawar”s daughter and NCP Working President Supriye Sule from the family seat of Baramati where Ajit Pawar has represented three times.