Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar Passes Away in Plane Crash

Kathmandu. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Ajit Pawar passed away in a plane crash on Wednesday morning. According to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the chartered plane flying from Mumbai to Baramati crashed around 8:45 AM, resulting in the deaths of all five people on board, including the crew.

The chartered plane flying from Mumbai to Baramati reportedly made a crash-landing near the runway threshold of the Baramati airport. Along with Ajit Pawar, one PSO, one attendant, and two crew members were on board the aircraft. Further details regarding the accident are yet to come.

Ajit Pawar was on his way to Baramati to attend a public meeting organized for the Jilla Parishad elections. Earlier on Tuesday, he had participated in a meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet Committee (Infrastructure) chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai. Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present at that meeting.

Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on a non-consecutive basis. He held the responsibility of Deputy Chief Minister for six terms in various governments. He served as Deputy Chief Minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray, and Eknath Shinde. He was married to Sunetra Pawar and has two sons, Jay Pawar and Parth Pawar.

He began his political journey in 1982 after being elected to the board of directors of a cooperative sugar factory. In 1991, he was elected chairman of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank. That same year, he was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha from the Baramati parliamentary constituency for the first time, a seat he later vacated for his uncle Sharad Pawar.

Ajit Pawar was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Baramati assembly constituency seven times. He achieved consecutive victories in the 1991 by-election, followed by 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. In November 2019, he caused a split in the NCP and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government as Deputy Chief Minister. In February 2024, the Election Commission granted the party name and election symbol to the group led by Ajit Pawar. ANI