<p>New Delhi: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ncp-sp">NCP-SP</a> chief <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/sharad-pawar">Sharad Pawar</a> on Thursday turned 84 and celebrated his birthday with members of his family and well-wishers, including estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ajit-pawar">Ajit Pawar</a>.</p>.<p>Pawar, a former Union Minister, cut the birthday cake with a sword at his 6, Janpath residence here, surrounded by party workers.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP chief Ajit Pawar and other prominent leaders greeted the octogenarian leader on his birthday.</p>.<p>Ajit Pawar, who parted ways with the senior Pawar last year and handed out a resounding defeat to the veteran leader in the recent Maharashtra assembly polls, was present at the birthday celebrations along with his family members.</p>.Mamata Banerjee is a capable leader, says Sharad Pawar on her willingness to head I.N.D.I.A. bloc.<p>Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar and their son Paarth, visited the senior leader along with NCP leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare.</p>.<p>"We came today to wish him (Sharad Pawar) on his birthday,” Bhujbal, once a close confidant of the former Maharashtra chief minister said.</p>.<p>Born on December 12, 1940, Pawar took the political plunge while in college and became a protege of veteran Congress leader Yashwantrao Chavan.</p>.<p>A four-term Maharashtra chief minister, the senior Pawar has also served as Defence Minister and Union Agriculture Minister.</p>.<p>Pawar parted ways with the Congress in 1999 over the issue of the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi to form the Nationalist Congress Party.</p>.<p>In July last year, the NCP witnessed a split with more than two-thirds of the party MLAs supporting Ajit Pawar, who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister.</p>.<p>Later, the Election Commission recognised the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP and asked the Sharad Pawar-led faction to select a new name for the party and an election symbol.</p>.<p>In the Maharashtra assembly elections last month, the BJP-led MahaYuti coalition comprising Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar-led NCP trounced the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP.</p>.<p>The MahaYuti won 235 seats, while the opposition alliance was restricted to 46 seats in the 288-member assembly. </p>
<p>New Delhi: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ncp-sp">NCP-SP</a> chief <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/sharad-pawar">Sharad Pawar</a> on Thursday turned 84 and celebrated his birthday with members of his family and well-wishers, including estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/ajit-pawar">Ajit Pawar</a>.</p>.<p>Pawar, a former Union Minister, cut the birthday cake with a sword at his 6, Janpath residence here, surrounded by party workers.</p>.<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP chief Ajit Pawar and other prominent leaders greeted the octogenarian leader on his birthday.</p>.<p>Ajit Pawar, who parted ways with the senior Pawar last year and handed out a resounding defeat to the veteran leader in the recent Maharashtra assembly polls, was present at the birthday celebrations along with his family members.</p>.Mamata Banerjee is a capable leader, says Sharad Pawar on her willingness to head I.N.D.I.A. bloc.<p>Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar and their son Paarth, visited the senior leader along with NCP leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare.</p>.<p>"We came today to wish him (Sharad Pawar) on his birthday,” Bhujbal, once a close confidant of the former Maharashtra chief minister said.</p>.<p>Born on December 12, 1940, Pawar took the political plunge while in college and became a protege of veteran Congress leader Yashwantrao Chavan.</p>.<p>A four-term Maharashtra chief minister, the senior Pawar has also served as Defence Minister and Union Agriculture Minister.</p>.<p>Pawar parted ways with the Congress in 1999 over the issue of the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi to form the Nationalist Congress Party.</p>.<p>In July last year, the NCP witnessed a split with more than two-thirds of the party MLAs supporting Ajit Pawar, who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister.</p>.<p>Later, the Election Commission recognised the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP and asked the Sharad Pawar-led faction to select a new name for the party and an election symbol.</p>.<p>In the Maharashtra assembly elections last month, the BJP-led MahaYuti coalition comprising Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar-led NCP trounced the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP.</p>.<p>The MahaYuti won 235 seats, while the opposition alliance was restricted to 46 seats in the 288-member assembly. </p>