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.
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Married to Kanchan Gadkari, the couple have three children