Pawar NCP’s ‘real power centre’
Ajit Pawar, 51, is the NCP’s most aggressive leader. He is from the village of Katewadi in the Baramati taluka of Pune district and has been representing the Baramati Assembly constituency since 1991.
Popularly referred to as dada (big brother), Mr Pawar’s strengths include his administrative skills and courage to say “no” to anyone. “If anyone approaches him with any task that is not viable, he will be forthright and tell them that it cannot be done. He will also tell them specifically that he must not be approached for the same thing again. That is his style. Very few people in politics can manage to do that. But Ajit dada usually gives honest answers, which is why some people think he is rude,” said an NCP activist.
Ever since Mr Sharad Pawar founded the NCP in 1999, Mr Ajit Pawar is known as the real power centre of the party. In fact, it was him who played a vital role in bridging the communication gap between the Congress and the NCP after the 1999 state Assembly election. Mr Ajit Pawar’s maiden foray into the electoral areas was in 1982, when he won a sugar cooperative body election by a good margin. In 1991, Mr Ajit Pawar was elected MP from the constituency once represented by Mr Sharad Pawar. However, later he returned to state politics as MLA from Baramati and was inducted into the Sudhakar Naik government.
He has held a wide variety of posts in a number of cooperative institutions and he was the chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Bank for 16 years. In the Ashok Chavan cabinet, Mr Ajit Pawar was alloted the power ministry and the water resources ministry. He is the current guardian minister of Pune, Maharashtra.
Mr Ajit Pawar is easily the most popular NCP leader among the party workers.
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