The founder and president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Pawar began his career as a member of the Indian National Congress and has held several key positions in the government. Pawar became the member of Maharashtra’s Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1967. He served as the minister of multiple ministries in his tenure as an MLA, which lasted till 1978. In 1978, he was elected as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, an office he held for three times in his political career (1978-80, 1983-91, 1993-95). He has been elected as a member of the Lok Sabha six times and has held office for several important ministries including defense (1991-93) under the PV Narsimha Rao government. He parted from Congress in 1999 and formed the NCP after being expelled for opposing the party’s projection of a non-Indian, Sonia Gandhi, as their Prime Ministerial candidate. He has also served as the President of the International Council of Cricket from 2010-12.