Who is Ajit Pawar? All you need to know about NCP leader's political journey

A day after Ajit Pawar led a rebellion in the Nationalist Congress Party and joined the Maharashtra ruling coalition the NCP vs NCP battle is underway at full steam The history of Maharashtra politics repeated itself after three years on Sunday when Ajit Pawar took an oath as the deputy chief minister againAfter a brief stint as Maharashtras deputy chief minister in 2019 under a BJP government NCP leader Ajit Pawar is back to the post by splitting the party in a stunning turn of events in the state politicsOn Sunday Ajit Pawar went in for action replay but this time with the support of over 40 of the NCPrsquos 53 MLAs He chose to split the party even as his uncle NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was busy getting all opposition parties together to take on the BJPAjit Pawar took an oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on July 2 for the third time since 2019 capping months of intense speculation about his next political moveHere are NCP leader Ajit Pawars political journey in 10 points1 Ajit Pawar who is the son of Sharad Pawarrsquos elder brother Anantrao is known to be politically ambitious and speaks his mind2 Pawar who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022 enjoys the image of a grassroots leader and an able administrator3 The politician made his foray into politics in 1982 as member on the board of a cooperative sugar factory He was elected as chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Bank in 1991 and remained on the post for many years4 After Pawar became the chairman of Pune District Cooperative Bank in 1991 he held the post for the next 16 years Elected as an MP to the Lok Sabha from Baramati in 1991 Pawar later vacated the seat for Sharad Pawar who was the defence minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government He later went on to become a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly MLA from the Baramati Assembly Constituency5 He was elected as MLA from the Baramati Assembly Constituency in 1995 1999 2004 2009 2014 and in 2019 after winning by a vote margin of 165265 votes6 Ajit Pawar 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 Maharashtra7 In November 2019 Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the deputy CM for the shortest term with the government led by BJPs Devendra Fadnavis which took oath in a hushhush ceremony in the Raj Bhawan lasted just 80 hours8 He again became the deputy chief minister in the MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray and remained in the position for twoandhalf years till the alliance government collapsed in June last year9 Earlier Pawar also served as deputy CM during the 15year tenure of CongressNCP government under Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan10 He was elected as an MP from Baramati in 1991 but vacated the post for uncle Sharad Pawar who became the defence minister in the Narasimha Rao government Later Ajit Pawar was elected as MLA from Baramati and went on to represent the constituency for six terms10 In 2014 Devendra Fadnavis who was in the opposition highlighted Ajit Pawars alleged involvement in the Rs 70000 crore irrigation scam It was during Ajit Pawars tenure as water resources minister that allegation of irregularities surfaced in irrigation projects in the state