"The late Chavan-saheb was not only a good politician with a clean image and an able administrator, he was a writer, a voracious reader, and encouraged art, music and literature," Pawar said, after unveiling a wax statue of Chavan's to mark the late leader's 102th birth anniversary here.
Recalling his association with Chavan as a youth leader, Pawar said the late leader was born into an ordinary family and had to struggle hard to come up in life. "His has been a journey from member of the Bombay province legislature to a minister and then to Chief Minister of the province, and later of the bilingual state and then as the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra," Pawar said.
"Chavan will always remain a legend in Maharashtra politics," said Pawar, who himself is often described as Chavan's protege.
The life-size wax statue has been sculpted by Sunil Kandalloor, founder of Lonavala-based Sunil's Celebrity Wax Museum.
Kandalloor said that Sharad Pawar had permitted him to make his (Pawar's) wax model too, which will be housed in the Mumbai museum with 65 other statues.