Six times deputy, but never the CM: Go-getter Ajit Pawar's tryst with politics

Mumbai: For Ajit Pawar, the post of Deputy Chief Minister comes easily even as the coveted post of Maharashtra Chief Minister continues to elude. He has become the Deputy CM for a record sixth term.

Ajit Pawar has often said in public that he wants to be the CM and serve the people, but falls short of numbers.

In the Maha Yuti government, he is the senior-most and most-experienced minister.

He has worked as Deputy CM under four CMs - Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

The 65-year-old Dada, as he is popularly known, has always been in news - whether in Treasury or Opposition benches.

There are no pending files in his table. “If it can happen, I will do it, if it can't, there is no question of it...I say Yes or No flatly...,” Ajit Pawar, the eight-time MLA and one of the longest-serving ministers, often says.

When the BJP was pursuing Eknath Shinde to be the Deputy CM, in lighter vein Ajit Pawar said: “…he (Shinde) will convey…I will take it (oath), I will not wait.”

Ajit Pawar grew under the tutelage of his uncle Sharad Pawar and learnt tricks of the trade under his shadow, but managed to carve a niche in Maharashtra politics early in his life.

A former one-term Lok Sabha member from Baramati and eight-time MLA from Baramati, Ajit has ministerial experience for around 25 years.

Ajit Pawar is a no-nonsense administrator, but the nephew of NCP founder-President often lands in controversies. Having handled several key portfolios like finance, power and water resources, he brings with him vast political experience.

He is son of late Anantrao Pawar, the elder brother of Sharad Pawar. Anantrao had initially worked for renowned film maker V Shantaram's Rajkamal Studios in Mumbai. He hails from the village of Katevadi in Baramati.

Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory. He was elected as a chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991 and remained in post for 16 years. Before becoming an MLA, he was an MP from Baramati, but vacated the seat for Pawar when the latter became the Defence Minister in the P V Narsimha Rao government.

When the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power, Ajit landed in trouble when he said whether he should 'urinate' to fill dams during the drought.

His name figured in the alleged Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam. Recently, the uncle-nephew duo was booked by the Mumbai police and Enforcement Directorate in the Rs 25,000 crore Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam.

After the BJP’s alliance with the Shiv Sena broke, Pawar became the Deputy CM in Devendra Fadnavis's Cabinet, but the government did not survive. Thereafter, he joined the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and handled the finance portfolio.

After the MVA collapsed, he became the Leader of the Opposition in Assembly, but often was criticised for being soft on Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government.

Ajit Pawar's biggest regret is that when they had an alliance with Congress, in 2004 and the NCP got more seats, his uncle still gave the top post to the Congress though in bargain extracted some good portfolios.