Ajit Pawar is the most talked-about man in Maharashtra politics today. 49-year-old Devendra Fadnavis took over the reins of Maharashtra as he took oath as Chief Minister in an unexpected turn of events on Saturday morning, courtesy -- Ajit Pawar, who also managed to get a deputy Chief Minister post in his kitty. Probably that was the deal or maybe more.
Meet Ajit Pawar - The man who helped BJP turn the tide
- Ajit Pawar is the son of Anantrao Pawar, who had initially worked for renowned filmmaker V Shantaram. Ajit is also the nephew of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar.
- Ajit Pawar was pursuing his primary education in Deolali Pravara when uncle Sharad Pawar rose to become a political figure in Congress.
- Ajit Pawar later moved to Bombay for his further education.
- It was in 1982 that Ajit Pawar made his foray into politics when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory.
- In 1991, Ajit Pawar was elected chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC). He retained the post for 16 years. During the course, he was elected as Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha from Baramati.
- Ajit Pawar, 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. He was thereafter elected a member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Baramati.
- Ajit Pawar was re-elected from Baramati in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
- From June 1991-November 1992, Ajit Pawar was the minister of state for Agriculture and Power in Sudhakarrao Naik's government.
- When Sharad Pawar returned to the state as Chief Minister, Ajit Pawar served as the minister of state for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning from November 1992-February 1993.
- Ajit Pawar was promoted to cabinet minister in 1999 when the Congress-NCP coalition came into power. First, in the Irrigation Department (October 1999-December 2003) in Vilasrao Deshmukh government. Later from December 2003 to October 2004, he was given additional charge of the Rural Development Department in Sushilkumar Shinde's government.
- In 2004 when Congress-NCP combine returned to power, Ajit Pawar retained the Water Resources Ministry in Deshmukh 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.
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It is alleged that Ajit Pawar, during his tenure as minister for water resources, spared no efforts to help in the development of Lavasa, a projected touted as a "vision of Sharad Pawar".
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In September 2012, there were accusations that there had been a misappropriation of funds amounting to Rs 70,000 crores.
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