The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the state parties in India. It refers to the Ajit Pawar faction after the 2023 split in the party when the Supreme Court of India granted the original party name and symbol to the Nationalist Congress Party. It was one of the major political parties in Maharashtra and was a recognised state party in Nagaland and Kerala. In July 2023, majority of the elected MLAs and MLCs of the party led by Ajit Pawar joined the National Democratic Alliance government, however, all MPs except two remained loyal to Sharad Pawar. This caused a direct split between the Ajit Pawar-led faction and the founder and president Sharad Pawar who formed the Nationalist Congress Party after EC recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the original party.
Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 December 2008. He also served in the Union cabinet as the Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences.
Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, better known as R. R. Patil, was an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was an MLA for Tasgaon vidhan sabha constituency from 1991 to 2015. He was an important leader of modern Maharashtra. He was a member of the Nationalist Congress Party. He became Home Minister of Maharashtra for the second time after the 2009 Maharashtra assembly election victory of the Congress-NCP alliance. He was also the former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Narayan Tatu Rane is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg. He was former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He former serves as Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Second Modi ministry. He has previously held Cabinet Ministry positions for Industry, Port, Employment and Self-employment; Revenue; and Industry in the Government of Maharashtra.
Dilip Datta Walse is an Indian politician, from Ambegaon, Maharashtra, and a seven-time Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He is a minister in the Government of Maharashtra, since July 2023. He previously served as the Minister of Home Affairs in the Government of Maharashtra. He formerly headed the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Energy Ministry, Higher and Technical Education Ministry, and Medical Education Ministry, all as a Cabinet Minister from 1999 to 2009.
Jayant Rajaram Patil is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He has been representing Islampur in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for more than 3 decades. He was the Cabinet Minister of the Water Resources Department in Uddhav Thackeray ministry. Previously he has been the Rural Development Minister, the Finance Minister and the Home Minister of Maharashtra.
Sunil Panjabrao Deshmukh is the Member of Legislative Assembly from the constituency of Amravati, Maharashtra, India. He is a member of Indian National Congress (INC). In 2009, he was expelled from the Indian National Congress due to his rebellion in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha election, 2009 when he was denied a ticket to contest the election from his Amravati constituency in order to accommodate Mr. Raosaheb Shekhawat, the son of then President of India, Pratibha Patil. He was also the Minister of State for Finance and Planning, Public Works and Energy in the cabinet of the Government of Maharashtra (2004-2009). He was also the guardian minister for Amravati and Bhandara Districts of Vidarbha, Maharashtra from 2004-2009. Additionally, he also served as the ex-officio Vice-Chairman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board's holding company and as the co-chairman of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd.
Ajit Anantrao Pawar is an Indian politician who is currently serving, alongside Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2 July 2023. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2022 to 2023, and was a Member of the Parliament in the Lok Sabha in 1991, representing Baramati constituency. He has also been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly since 1991, representing Baramati constituency.
Ashok Shankarrao Chavan is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is the son of the late former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan. He was one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Maharashtra but joined Bhartiya Janata Party on 13 Feb 2024. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state from 8 December 2008 to 9 November 2010. Also, he has served as Minister for Cultural Affairs, Industries, Mines and Protocol in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government and he is also the former PWD Minister of Maharashtra.
Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh is an Indian politician and a member of Indian National Congress. He is the son of veteran congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh. He is a three term Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Latur city constituency. He is the National Secretary of the All India Congress Committee.
Anil Vasantrao Deshmukh is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party. Deshmukh served as the Minister for Home Affairs in Government of Maharashtra between 2019 and 2021. Deshmukh resigned in 2021 as the Home Minister of Maharashtra due to allegations of money laundering and other charges by Param Bir Singh. He was arrested by ED and was kept in custody for 1 year before being released by a court order.
Vijay Bhausaheb Thorat, known popularly as Balasaheb Thorat, is an Indian politician who served as the revenue minister in Maharashtra state. He also served as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Thorat is a senior member of the Congress Party. He is an MLA from Sangamner constituency.
Although a parliamentary democracy, Indian politics has increasingly become dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections. Family members have also led the Congress party for most of the period since 1978 when Indira Gandhi floated the then Congress(I) faction of the party. It also is fairly common in many political parties in Maharashtra. The dynastic phenomenon is seen from national level down to district level and even village level.The three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj established in the 1960s also helped to create and consolidate the dynastic phenomenon in rural areas. Apart from government,political families also control cooperative institutions, mainly cooperative sugar factories,district cooperative banks in the state, and since the 1980s private for profit colleges. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also features several senior leaders who are dynasts. In Maharashtra, the NCP has particularly high level of dynasticism.
The 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election was held on 21 October 2019 to elect all 288 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. After a 61.4% turnout in the election, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SHS) won a majority. Following differences over the government formation, the alliance was dissolved, precipitating a political crisis.
Prithviraj Chavan was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 11 November 2010. The following is his cabinet. The government consisted of Chavan's Congress party and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Indian National Congress formed his second Maharashtra government after his party won the 2004 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, in alliance with Nationalist Congress Party. Deshmukh had previously served as the State's Chief Minister from 1999 to 2003.
Ashok Chavan was sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the first time in 2008, after his predecessor, Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned the office in the aftermath of 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The first Chavan ministry governed until the 2009 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, which resulted in a victory for Chavan-led Congress-NCP alliance and Chavan forming his second ministry.
In January 2003, Sushilkumar Shinde was sworn in as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, on resignation of his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh. Shinde led a cabinet consisting of his Congress party and alliance partner NCP, till the 2004 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election. The Congress-NCP alliance secured a majority in those elections, but the Shinde ministry was replaced by his Deshmukh's second ministry.
After the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections, post-poll alliance was formed in between Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Indian National Congress to form Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Uddhav Thackeray, the president of Shiv Sena was sworn in as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 28 November 2019. Following is the list of ministers from the cabinet of Uddhav Thackeray starting from November 2019.
