Sharad Pawar
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (, pronunciation:
[ʃəɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ], born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. Pawar served four terms as the
Chief Minister of Maharashtra and held cabinet positions in the
Union Council of Ministers, including the
Minister of Defence under
P. V. Narasimha Rao and
Minister of Agriculture under
Manmohan Singh. He founded the
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999, following a split from the
Indian National Congress, and has served as president since its inception. Pawar leads his faction of the NCP in the
Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. He is the chairperson of
Maha Vikas Aghadi, a regional
Maharashtra-based political alliance.
Born in
Baramati,
Maharashtra, Pawar is the patriarch of the
Pawar political family that includes his daughter
Supriya Sule, nephew
Ajit Pawar, and grandnephew
Rohit Rajendra Pawar.
Outside of politics, Pawar served as the President of the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2005 to 2008 and of the
International Cricket Council (ICC) from 2010 to 2012. He also headed the
Mumbai Cricket Association from October 2013 to January 2017.
In 2017, the Indian government conferred upon him the
Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour.
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