Ajit Pawar, popularly called Ajit Dada, is a prominent Maharashtra politician, and nephew of Sharad Pawar, the co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former union minister.
In 2023, Ajit Pawar, along with some MLAs, split from the NCP and joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state. He then went on to serve as a co-deputy CM along with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis under CM Eknath Shinde. A year prior to this, Ajit Pawar was the leader of the opposition in the state assembly and the finance minister for three years under the then MVA government of the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena. Pawar has a history of defections; in 2019, too, he defected from the party to become the Deputy CM under Fadnavis, which lasted just a few days.
Ajit Pawar is an MLA from Baramati, a family constituency for the Pawars. He has represented Baramati in the Vidhan Sabha since 1995, and previously served as Minister of State for Agriculture and Power, Minister of State for Soil Conservation, Power, and Planning in 1992, and Cabinet Minister responsible for the Irrigation Department in 1999.
Shivsena is left holding trivial ministries. Serves right.NCP is in the driving seat. Shivsena will take all the brickbats.