Sharad Pawar

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar 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.