Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar (born December 12, 1940) is president of the Nationalist Congress Party which he formed in 1999 in India. He is a former member of the Indian National Congress party who was expelled from the party for raising the question of foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi. He has a prominent place in Indian national politics as well as regional politics of Maharashtra. He is from the town of Baramati.

He entered the Maharashtra legislative assembly for the first time in 1967 from Baramati. In 1978, he toppled the Congress government in Maharashtra led by Vasantdada Patil and formed a government in coalition with the Janata Party under the banner of the Progressive Democratic Front.

In 1991, he became the defence minister of India.

External links

• Rediff.com article on Sharad Pawar (dated April 2004) (http://in.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/21espec2.htm)
• Photos of Sharad Pawar (http://mumbaibmcelection.com/photos_of_sharad_pawar.htm)
• Biography on sharadpawar.com (http://www.sharadpawar.com/biography.html)

Further reading

• P. K. Ravindranath (February 1, 1992) Sharad Pawar- the making of a modern maratha South Asia Books. ISBN 8185674469