Maha Deputy CM Ajit Pawar dies in plane crash

Mumbai: NCP chief and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a tragic plane crash this morning while he was flying from Mumbai to Baramati. Four others, including pilots and Pawar’s security personnel, have also died in the crash. He is survived by his wife Sunetra Pawar, with whom he has two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar. The small aircraft, which took off from Mumbai around 8 am, crashed near Baramati airport during a landing attempt at around 8.45 am.

As per reports, Pawar was to attend four important public meetings ahead of the local body polls. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said all five passengers on board died in the crash.

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.

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.