Inexperience may trouble Chavan
His unswerving loyalty to the Congress high command has earned 64-year-old Prithviraj Chavan the most coveted seat of power in Maharashtra. However, his inexperience in the state politics coupled with the NCP’s move to replace Chhagan Bhujbal with Ajit Pawar as the deputy chief minister means that Mr Chavan will have a
tough time ahead. Mr Chavan was chosen for the CM’s post because of his loyalty to the party as well as his clean and non-controversial image. With no other suitable candidate available from the state to restore the Congress’ image that has been dented by the Adarsh Housing Society scam, the party high command has turned to Mr Chavan.
Born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Mr Chavan studied at the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS), Pilani in Rajasthan, from where he earned his masters in engineering, and University of California, Berkeley. He is a technocrat who entered the politics after being persuaded by the late Rajiv Gandhi. Mr Chavan is known to enjoy the confidence of both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He had been serving as the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi before taking over as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Mr Chavan’s late father D.R. Chavan, alias Anandrao, was a prominent Congressman and the “diwan” of the Indore royalty. He was also a well-known legal luminary who served as minister in the Cabinets of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
Anandrao represented the Karad constituency in the Lok Sabha from 1957 to 1971. After his death in 1974, his wife Premlata Tai held the seat in 1977, 1984 and 1989. In 1980, she was denied the ticket but was appointed the state Congress president.
Mr Prithviraj Chavan made his maiden entry into the Lok Sabha in 1991 from Karad and went on to win the seat in 1996 and 1998. In 1999, he lost to Shriniwas Patil of the NCP. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2002 and 2008.
As a member of the UPA-Left coordination committee on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Mr Chavan steadfastly advocated the government’s agenda and, after Manmohan Singh government won the trust vote, he travelled to many countries to deliver the PM’s message ahead of the IAEA meeting.
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