Sushil Kumar Shinde
From GovernIndia
Background
Shinde is a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra and is currently the Cabinet Minister for Power in the UPA government. Born into a very poor Hindu family, he was the first backward caste person to have become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. His first job was that of a Sub-Inspector of police. Later on he studied law. Encouraged by Sharad Pawar, then a rising Congress politician, he quit his Sub-Inspector's job to enter politics in 1971. In 2002, he contested the election for the post of Vice-President of India against the National Democratic Alliance's candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and lost. On October 30, 2004, he was appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, but after nearly one year, resigned and left office on January 29, 2006. Shinde was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra on March 20, 2006.