Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi: अजित अनंतराव पवार) (born July 22, 1959), popularly known as Dada (Big Brother) is a Maharashtra politician currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, the Union Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and the chief of Nationalist Congress Party.

Ajit Pawar is the son of Anantrao Pawar who was an elder brother of Sharad Pawar. Anantrao followed a less conventional career of working for V. Shantaram's Rajkamal studio. His paternal grandfather, Govindrao Pawar was employed by the Baramati farmers' Cooperative ( Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh) whilst his grandmother, Shardabai looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometers from Baramati.

Ajit Pawar made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was elected to a sugar cooperative body. Ajit Pawar was then elected as a chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991, the post he held for 16 years. It merits attention that when he took over, the bank deposits were just Rs 300 crore. When he relinquished office the bank deposits had increased to an astronomical figure of Rs 160000 crores (approximately $32 billion)^{[citation needed]} . During the same time he was elected to Lok Sabha from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. He later vacated his Lok Sabha seat in favour of Mr. Sharad Pawar who had then become a Defense minister in Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao's government.