Nitin Gadkari makes his maiden entry to the Lok Sabha from Nagpur. He is credited with implementing several key infrastructure projects during his stint as PWD Minister in the Sena-BJP government from 1995-1999, including the Mumbai-Pune expressway and other major flyovers in Mumbai. The success of the Mumbai-Pune expressessway also brought him fame, with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking him to launch the national highway authority.
Born into a middle class agricultural family in Nagpur, Mr Gadkari was influenced by the RSS and entered politics as a student leader of the ABVP and later joined the Janta Yuva Morcha, youth wing of the BJP. He has had a long innings in Maharashtra as minister and Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council. He was BJP president from 2009- 2013.
He also heads a business empire with interests in cooperative sugar factories and power plants in Vidarbha. He came under a cloud in 2012, with questions being raised about the funding of Purti Power and Sugar, which he had once founded and had to quit his position as party president.
Married to Kanchan Gadkari, the couple have three children
