Sharad Pawar’s party has got a new president in Maharashtra. The party has appointed Shashikant Shinde as the state president. This decision has been taken after Jayant Patil resigned. After his resignation, many names were being speculated but now Shashikant Shinde’s name has been finalized.

Shashikant Shinde is considered to be a Gaddavar leader in western Maharashtra and in view of his experience, the party has awarded him such a big responsibility in Maharashtra. Shinde has been active in politics since a young age.

Who is Shashikant Shinde?
Shashikant Shinde hails from Humgaon village of Javali taluka in Satara district of Maharashtra. He is a graduate of the Commerce Branch (Commerce) and is known as an influential leader of Mathadi workers. He was born on 19 October 1963. His childhood was spent in his father Jayavantrao Shinde and mother Kausalya Shinde in a beautiful and affectionate atmosphere.

Shashikant Shinde began to participate active in the social and political fields at a very young age. In 1999, he contested for the first time from Jawali assembly constituency and won by a margin of 12,000 votes. He has also been the Water Minister of Krishna Valley Patbandhare Mahamand (Irrigation Development Corporation) of Maharashtra Government.

MLAs from Koregaon
From 2009 to 2014, he was a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA from Koregaon assembly constituency. In this election, he defeated Shalini Tai Patil. Shashikant Shinde has represented Jawali twice and twice as an MLA from Koregaon. However, in the 2019 assembly elections, he suffered a defeat to Mahesh Shinde of Shiv Sena in Koregaon seat.

Lok Sabha-Vidhan Sabha election was fought
After this, Shashikant Shinde contested from Satara Lok Sabha seat as a candidate for Mahavikas Aghadi. He was in the fray against BJP Mahayuti candidate Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosle on behalf of the Nationalist Congress (Sharad Pawar faction), but he had to face defeat.

Currently members of the Legislative Council
In the assembly elections again too, he had to face defeat against Mahesh Shinde from Koregaon. Currently, Shashikant Shinde is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council and is acting as the Chief Leader of Opposition (Main Pratod) of the Nationalist Congress (Sharad Pawar faction).