Our Bureau
Baramati
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar died in the plane crash on Wednesday morning.
According to DGCA, five people, including the crew, on board the chartered plane flying from Mumbai, Maharashtra, to Baramati died after a crash-landing at 8.45 am this morning. The crash landing of Mumbai-Baramati charter plane occurred at the runway threshold in Baramati. Pawar was onboard along with 2 more personnel (1 PSO and 1 attendant) and 2 crew members.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday mourned the demise of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, remembering him as a mass leader with deep grassroots.
In a post on X, the Prime Minister said Pawar was widely respected for his hard work and dedication to public service in Maharashtra. He highlighted Pawar’s strong grasp of administrative affairs and his commitment to empowering the poor and underprivileged.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday condoled the demise of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, saying he was deeply distressed by the tragic news and hailed Pawar’s decades-long dedication to public service.
In a post on X, Shah said Pawar’s contribution to the welfare of every section of society in Maharashtra over the past three and a half decades was beyond words. He recalled their interactions, noting that Pawar always held detailed discussions on issues affecting the state’s people.
Pawar was headed to Baramati to attend a public rally for the Zilla Parishad Elections. Pawar was in Mumbai on Tuesday, where he attended a meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by CM Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.
Ajit Pawar was the longest serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
He is married to Sunetra Pawar, with whom he has two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.
In 1982, Ajit Pawar began his political career after being elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory. In 1991, he was elected as the chairman of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1991 from the Baramati Parliamentary constituency and later vacated the seat for his uncle Sharad Pawar. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly seven times from the Baramati Assembly constituency. He first won in a 1991 by-election and subsequently in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.
In November 2019, he engineered a split in the NCP and joined a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and became the Deputy Chief Minister. In February 2024, the Election Commission awarded the party name and symbol to the faction headed by Ajit Pawar.
