9 Things You Must Know About Ajit Pawar
- First entered electoral politics in 1991 and was a seven-time MLA from Baramati who transformed the constituency. He was deputy chief minister for six times under four different chief ministers.
- Was a deeply-entrenched grassroots politician, a dying breed in today’s time. Popularly known as ‘Ajit Dada’.
- The chief strategist of the Nationalist Congress Party since its inception in 1999. He handled the affairs in the state while his cousin and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule held the fort in Delhi before the NCP split in 2023.
- His wife Sunetra Pawar contested against Supriya Sule in the 2024 general election. Sunetra lost. Ajit later said it was a mistake to field her opposite his cousin. Sunetra Pawar is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
- Ajit Pawar played a big role in the sugar cooperative sector in Maharashtra. Served as finance minister of Maharashtra for several terms and held other key portfolios — irrigation, power and rural development.
- In 2019, he was sworn in as deputy chief minister in a hurried alliance with the BJP which lasted about three days before his ghar wapsi to the NCP.
- Yet the NCP formally split in 2023 and Ajit Pawar’s faction allied with the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena. The two NCPs entered into a tacit arrangement in certain seats during the recent municipal elections in Maharashtra.
- He was known to say things as they were, without couching it in any soft padding — and was an accessible politician. His day routinely started early.
- Had two sons, Parth and Jay. Parth dabbled in electoral politics, but lost his first election.
