Overview
Prithviraj Dajisaheb Chavan (born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who served as the 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2010 to 2014. A member of the Indian National Congress, he has been described in the media as a technocrat with a low-profile, non-controversial image.
Chavan studied mechanical engineering at BITS Pilani and the University of California, Berkeley. Before entering public life, he worked in the United States in the field of aircraft instrumentation and on the design of audio recorders for anti-submarine warfare. He returned to India and became an entrepreneur in 1974. He was drawn into politics after a meeting with Rajiv Gandhi, and has since been associated with the Congress organisation for most of his adult life.
Chavan was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 and was returned in subsequent elections. He later served as a member of the Rajya Sabha. As General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, he was in-charge of several states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. In the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, he held five portfolios, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, and served as Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. He is regarded as an architect of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010.
Chavan became Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 2010, at the instance of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, succeeding Ashok Chavan (to whom he is not related). He resigned as Chief Minister after the ruling NCP–Congress alliance in the state split. He contested the 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election from the Karad South constituency, losing to Atulbaba Suresh Bhosale of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on English Wikipedia page for Prithviraj Chavan