Pawar’s MLA grandnephew tipped to succeed NCP chief

Sharad Pawar’s sensational exit as the NCP chief has given rise to much speculation over who will fill his rather large shoes next, even as the four-time Maharashtra chief minister said he will be taking two to three days to reconsider his resignation.

The NCP patriarch appointed a panel of senior leaders, including daughter and MP Supritya Sule as well as nephew Ajit Pawar, to decide the further course of action. Sule is pegged to get a big role with party leaders saying she could even be the NCP’s national face. There are, however, those who think Sharad Pawar has been grooming his grandnephew Rohit Pawar to take over the party reins since he is known to be close to the veteran politician.

Rohit Rajendra Pawar is the 37-year-old MLA from the Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency. A fourth-generation Pawar, the MLA has often been considered a product of “dynasty politics” by opposition parties such as the BJP. He is the grandson of Sharad Pawar’s eldest brother Appasaheb Pawar, who had two sons – Rajendra Pawar and Ranjit Pawar.

Rohit Pawar is Rajendra’s son and was born on September 29, 1985 in Maharashtra’s Baramati, – the NCP stronghold and Pawar family power centre. A businessman by profession, he started his political journey by winning the 2017 zilla parishad elections from Shirshupal-Gunawadi constituency in Baramati. He then became an MLA for the first time in the 2019 assembly elections by defeating the BJP’s Ram Shankar Shinde, who is a close aide of deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Rohit defeated Shinde with a big margin of 43,347 votes and even went to seek his blessings at his home after winning the contest.

Tapping into Sharad Pawar’s legacy in the world of cricket, Rohit was elected unopposed to the post of the president of the Maharashtra Cricket Association earlier this year.

With inputs from News18