Arvind Sawant

Arvind Ganpat Sawant (born 31 December 1951) is an Indian politician from the Shiv Sena (UBT) party who has served as Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises from 30 May 2019 to 11 November 2019. He is a Member of Lok Sabha since 2014. On 11 November 2019, Sawant quit as union minister in the Modi government due to ongoing power tussle between Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena in the follow up to 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election.

Early life Sawant was born on 31 December 1951 His family is from a middle-class background. Prior to joining politics, he worked as an engineer with the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, the largest landline provider in Mumbai and Delhi.

Political career Early politics In 1968, Sawant started his political career with Shiv Sena as a 'gat pramukh', the lowest rank of the party hierarchy. During this time, he worked as a polling agent and also participated in various protests which were organized by the party. He also joined Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti, which worked to demand jobs for the local people. In the council, he raised issues pertaining to slum development, demanded prominence for Marathi language, and demanded housing for the mill workers. Although he managed to get elected to the council twice, he lost the election during his third attempt as the party was short of numbers in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation. His attendance record in the Lok Sabha was more than 90%. Subsequently, he was made the minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. On 11 November 2019 he had to resign from the Modi government cabinet because of power tussle between Shivsena and BJP.

Personal life On 25 May 1982, Sawant married Anuya Arvind Sawant. They have one son and one daughter.