Sharad Pawar

Sharad Govindrao Pawar
MP
Constituency	Madha
Born	12 December 1940 (1940-12-12) (age 69) Pune, Maharashtra
Political party	NCP
Spouse(s)	Pratibha Pawar
Children	1 daughter - Supriya Sule
Residence	Pune
Religion	Hindu
As of September 16, 2006 Source: [1]

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (Marathi: शरदचंद्र गोविंदराव पवार) (born December 12, 1940), popularly known as Sharad Pawar, is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is the president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. He has previously held the posts of Defence Minister of India and Chief Minister of Maharashtra and currently serves as Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.

Pawar hails from the town of Baramati in the Pune district of Maharashtra. He leads the NCP delegation in the Lok Sabha, representing his constituency of Madha in Maharashtra. He has a prominent place in Indian national politics as well as regional politics of Maharashtra.

Pawar also served as the Chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India from 2005 to 2008.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Till 1990 1.2 Early 1990s 1.3 Mid 1990s 1.4 1997 till date 2 Sports administration 3 Controversies 3.1 The criminal-politician nexus 3.2 Allegations of corruption 4 References 5 External links 5.1 See also 6 Further reading/sources

Career

Till 1990

Sharad Pawar entered the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1967 from Baramati, representing the undivided Congress Party.

Pawar broke away from the Congress to form a coalition government with the opposition Janata party in 1979 becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the first time at a time when Indira Gandhi had become incredibly unpopular due to her imposition of Emergency in 1975. This Progressive Democratic Front government was dismissed in February 1980, following Indira Gandhi's return to power at the Centre.

In the elections that followed, the Congress party won the majority in state assembly and A.R. Antulay,took over as the chief minister of the state. Pawar took over the Presidency of the Congress in 1981. For the first time, he won Lok Sabha election from Baramati parliamentary constituency in 1984. He also won state assembly elections of March 1985 from Baramati and preferred to continue in state politics for a while and resigned from the Lok Sabha. His party, the Indian Congress (Socialist) won 54 seats out of 288 in the state assembly and he became the leader of the opposition.

His returning to the Congress has been cited as a reason for the rise of the Shiv Sena at that time. In June 1988, Prime Minister of India and Congress President Rajiv Gandhi decided to induct then Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan into Union Cabinet as Finance Minister and Sharad Pawar was chosen to replace Chavan as chief minister. Sharad Pawar had the task of checking the rise of the Shiv Sena in state politics, which was a potential challenge to the dominance of Congress party in the state^{[citation needed]}. In 1989 Lok Sabha elections, Congress party won 28 seats out of 48 in Maharashtra. In the state assembly elections of February 1990, the alliance between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party posed a stiff challenge to the Congress. Congress fell short of an absolute majority in the state assembly, winning 141 seats out 288. Sharad Pawar was sworn in as chief minister again on March 4, 1990 with the support of 12 independent MLAs.

Early 1990s

During the course of election campaign, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. There were reports in the media that Pawar's name was being considered for the Prime Minister's post along with those of P.V. Narasimha Rao and N D Tewari.^[1][2][3] However the Congress Parliamentary Party elected P.V. Narasimha Rao as its leader and he was sworn in as Prime Minister on June 21, 1991. Rao decided to induct Pawar as Defence Minister. On June 26, 1991, Pawar took over as that portfolio, continuing till March 1993. After Pawar's successor in Maharashtra, Sudhakarrao Naik stepped down, Rao sent Pawar back as chief minister of the state.

He was sworn in as chief minister for his fourth and most controversial term^{[citation needed]} on March 6, 1993. Almost immediately, Mumbai, the financial capital of India and the state capital of Maharashtra, was rocked with series of bomb blasts on March 12, 1993.Sharad Pawar was sworn in as chief minister of maharashtra for first time in 1978 and not in 1979 as stated in the article career till 1990.

Mid 1990s

The Deputy Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, G.R. Khairnar made a series of accusations against Pawar for being involved in corruption and protecting the criminals^{[citation needed]}. Though Khairnar could not produce any evidence in support of his claims, it inevitably affected Pawar's popularity. Notable social worker Anna Hazare started a fast unto death to demand expulsion of 12 officers of the Forest department of Government of Maharashtra, who had been accused of corruption. The opposition parties accused Pawar's government of trying to shield the corrupt officers. Further, there was a sex scandal at Jalgaon in which a number of young girls were subjected to sexual abuse, which expanded to involve local municipal corporators belonging to Congress. The 1994 Gowari stampede occurred at Nagpur during the Winter Session of Maharashtra State Assembly and killed 114 people. Nagpur Police were trying to disperse almost 50000 Gowari protesters using baton charge but it created panic and triggered stampede amongst protesters^[4]. Majority of casualties were women and children who were crushed to death under the crowd’s feet scrambling to escape police line. Some were victims of sharp barb piercing as they were climbing over high fence to escape. Allegations were made that the mishap occurred because welfare minister Madhukarrao Pichad did not meet with the delegation of the Vanjara people in time. Though Pichad stepped down owing moral responsibility for the mishap, this incident was another setback to Sharad Pawar's government.

The elections to the Vidhan Sabha were due to be held in 1995. The Shiv Sena and BJP combine was leading the Congress in the polls, and there was widespread rebellion in the Congress party. The Shiv Sena-BJP combine won 138 seats while Congress party retained only 80 seats in the state assembly. Sharad Pawar had to step down and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi took over as chief minister on March 14, 1995.

Till the Lok Sabha elections of 1996, Sharad Pawar served as the Leader of the Opposition in State Legislative Council. In the 1996 General elections, he won from the Baramati seat and has not returned to the State Assembly since.

1997 till date

In June 1997, he unsuccessfully challenged Sitaram Kesri for the post of Congress President. In the mid-term parliamentary elections of 1998, Sharad Pawar not only won from his constituency, Baramati but also led the Congress to an emphatic win in Maharashtra. His move to align with the Republican Party of India (Athvale) and Samajwadi Party for the elections in the state brought rich dividents and the Congress party and allies won 37 seats out of 48 in the state. Sharad Pawar served as Leader of Opposition in 12th Lok Sabha.

After 12th Lok Sabha was dissolved and elections to 13th Lok Sabha were due, Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar demanded that the Congress Party needed to project someone born in India as the Prime Ministerial candidate and not the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, who had entered party politics and replaced Kesri as Congress President.

In June 1999, Pawar and Sangma founded the Nationalist Congress Party. His party had to align with the Congress party to form a coalition government in Maharashtra as neither party could win an absolute majority on its own in the 1999 assembly elections. Pawar, however, did not return to state politics, and Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress was chosen as Chief Minister, with Chagan Bhujbal representing the NCP as his deputy. The alliance has endured at the national and state level to this day.

After 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he joined the United Progressive Alliance government headed by Manmohan Singh as the Minister for Agriculture and Food.

On November 29, 2005, he was elected President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

He was appointed Union Minister of Agriculture and of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution on May 28, 2009

Sports administration

Pawar has interests in Kabbadi,Kho Kho,wrestling and cricket. He has served as the head of various sports organizations, including

• Mumbai Cricket Association
• Maharashtra Wrestling Association
• Maharashtra Kabbadi Association
• Maharashtra Kho Kho Association
• Maharastra Olympics Association
• International Cricket Council Vice President ^[5]

Pawar was president of Pune International Marathon Trust, which host Pune International Marathon for last 22 years.

Controversies

The criminal-politician nexus

In 2002-03, the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Sudhakarrao made a statement that the state leader of Indian National Congress party and erstwhile Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, had asked him to "go easy on Pappu Kalani", a well known criminal-turned-politician now.^[6] Shiv Sena Chief, Bal Thackerey, had later concurred with these allegations^[7]. Further, Sudhakarrao also alleged that it was possible that Kalani and Hitendra Thakur, another criminal-turned-politician from Virar, had been given tickets to contest election for Maharashtra State Legislature at the behest of Sharad Pawar who also put in a word for Naik with the police when the latter was arrested for his role in post-Babri Masjid Demolition riots in Mumbai.^[8]

In October 2006, the prime accused in the stamp paper scam worth $500 million plus, Abdul Karim Telgi, named Sharad Pawar as one of the politicians involved. This was revealed in a leaked video-tape of Telgi's narco-analysis test - now in the possession of the media - conducted in 2003, before the CBI took over the probe in 2004. In this tape, he named Sharad Pawar and Chaggan Bhujbal but did not specify the nature of their involvement.^{[citation needed]}

Allegations of corruption

The BJP asked for Pawar's resignation after alleging he was involved in a multi-crore scam involving wheat imports. In May 2007 a tender floated by the Food Corporation of India for procurement of wheat was cancelled when the lowest bid received was for 263 USD/ton. The government subsequently allowed private traders to purchase wheat directly from farmers that year resulting in a paucity of wheat to stock FCI granaries. By July 2007 the shortage at FCI was large enough to require import of wheat at a much higher price of 320-360 USD/ton. Taking advantage of this, traders who had domestically purchased wheat at 900 INR/ton earlier, were now offering the same to FCI at 1,300 INR/ton.^[9][10]

On October 27, 2007, the Bombay High Court served notices to institutions headed by Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar and Sadanand Sule (Sharad Pawar's son-in-law) along with a corresponding notice served to the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation (MKVDC) on why special privileges were given to Pawar and his family. This was done in consideration of a Public Interest Litigation No. 148 of 2006, filed by Shamsunder Potare alleging that the land said allocations in Pune, made in 2002, were illegal. The institutions and properties mentioned include:

• Two 141.15 acre plots given allotted to Vidya Pratishthan, an educational society headed by Sharad Pawar
• A 2 acre plot allotted to Anant Smriti Pratishthan, headed by Ajit Pawar, the Maharashtra state minister for irrigation and Sharad Pawar's nephew
• A 13 hectare (=32.12 acres) plot allotted to Lavasa Corporation, owned by Sadanand Sule, Sharad Pawar's son-in-law at the time. He handed over his stake in 2006
• A 1 acre plot allotted to Shivajinagar Agriculture College
• A 3 acre plot allotted to Sharadchandraji Scout and Guide Training Institute

These allocations were made allegedly under NCP leader and minister Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar who was in charge of MKVDC at the time.^[11][12] Saharad Pawar was served a contempt of court notice on May 1, 2008 in connection with this case for issuing statements to the press even though the matter was subjudice at the time, that was later rejected by the court. Also in connection with the case, the respondents were directed not to create third-party interests in the property under dispute and to undertake any developments at their own risk.^[13][14]

Pawar is also listed on the No Criminals website as an incriminated offender of the Religion Institution Act 1988 (Prevention of Misuse).^[15]

References

External links

• Rediff.com article on Sharad Pawar (dated April 2004)
• Photos of Sharad Pawar
• Biography on sharadpawar.com
• http://www.bsgindia.org/
• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website

See also

• [[Ajit Pawar]{MLA}], his nephew
• Supriya Sule, his daughter, MP Loksabha
• Prataprao Pawar brother, Managing Director-editor, Sakal

Further reading/sources

• P. K. Ravindranath (February 1, 1992) Sharad Pawar- the making of a modern maratha South Asia Books. ISBN 81-85674-46-9
• Page 23 of the Times of India, New Delhi, Tuesday, December 12, 2006.

Preceded by Vasantdada Patil	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 18 July 1978 – 17 February 1980	Succeeded by A R Antule
Preceded by Shankarrao Chavan	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 26 June 1988 – 25 June 1991	Succeeded by Sudhakarrao Naik
Preceded by Sudhakarrao Naik	Chief Minister of Maharashtra 6 March 1993 – 14 March 1995	Succeeded by Manohar Joshi

Preceded by Rameshwar Thakur

Presidents of the Bharat Scouts and Guides 2001–2004

Succeeded by Rameshwar Thakur