Sharad Govindrao Pawar is an Indian politician with over 50 years of public service. During his long career, Pawar has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on three occasions and held the posts of Minister of Defence and Minister of Agriculture. He is president of the Nationalist Congress Party, which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. In 2017, the Indian government under his political opponent, prime minister Narendra Modi, conferred upon him Padma Vibhushan.
About Sharad Pawar in brief
Sharad Govindrao Pawar is an Indian politician with over 50 years of public service. During his long career, Pawar has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on three occasions and held the posts of Minister of Defence and Minister of Agriculture. He is president of the Nationalist Congress Party, which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. In 2017, the Indian government under his political opponent, prime minister Narendra Modi, conferred upon him Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian honour of India. Pawar comes from the town of Baramati in the Pune district of Maharashtra. He has one daughter, Supriya Sule, who is married to Sadanand Sule. His nephew, Ajit Pawar, is also a politician and serves as the Deputy Chief Minister. His grandnephew Rohit Rajendra Pawar was elected to the Maharashtra Vidhansabha from the Karjat constituency in October 2019. He was the Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India BCCI from 2005 to 2008 and as the president of International Cricket Council from 2010 to 2012. He stepped down as the President of Mumbai Cricket Association on 17 December 2016, after being re-elected on 17 June 2015, for a second time in 2012. His younger brother Pratap Pawar runs the Marathi daily newspaper Sakal. His older brother Vasantrao, a lawyer, was murdered over a land deal by a man who was suspected to be a hired assassin.
The elder Pawars were keen supporters of education for their children. Most of Pawar’s siblings were well educated and successful in their respective professions. He joined Youth Congress in 1958 and rose to become president of Poona district youth Congress in 1962. In 1969, when the Congress party split, he opted for the Congress faction of Indira Gandhi along with his mentor Yashwantrao Chavan. At the age of 27, he was nominated as the candidate for the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly by the undivided Congress Party. He won the election and represented the constituency in the early 1970s. As the MLA in the 1970s he was heavily involved in rural politics from western Maharashtra. In the early 1980s, he became involved in building percolation tanks during a severe drought in the western Maharashtra region. His wife Shardabai Pawar also served on the district local board three times between 1937 and 1952, and also looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometres from Baramatis. She is the mother of Ajit, who currently represents the 17th Lok Sabha in Maharashtra. His son Ajit started his career by serving on Pune Zila Parishad. In October 2019, he will be elected to Maharashtra Vid hansabh from theKarjat constituency in the KarJat constituency. He and Ajit are married to Pratibha, daughter of the test cricketer Sadashiv Shinde.
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