Overview
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician who has served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since 2014. Prior to that, he was a member of the Lok Sabha. Born in Baramati, Maharashtra, he is the patriarch of the Pawar family, which includes his daughter Supriya Sule, his nephew Ajit Pawar (a former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra) and his grandnephew Rohit Rajendra Pawar.
Pawar has served four terms as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. At the Union level, he has held cabinet positions, including Minister of Defence in the government of P. V. Narasimha Rao and Minister of Agriculture in the government of Manmohan Singh. In 1999, he founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) following a split from the Indian National Congress. In July 2023, after a split within the NCP, he came to lead the Sharadchandra Pawar faction of the party. Over his career, he has been involved in several coalition governments and political alliances in Maharashtra.
Beyond electoral politics, Pawar has held senior positions in cricket administration. He served as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from 2005 to 2008 and as the President 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, Pawar was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Sharad Pawar.