Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash on Wednesday morning. According to DGCA, five people including the crew died in the accident of a chartered plane going from Mumbai to Baramati in Maharashtra at 8.45 am today.
This accident of Mumbai-Baramati charter plane happened on the runway of Baramati. Pawar was on board the aircraft along with 2 other employees (1 PSO and 1 attendant) and 2 crew members. More details about the accident are awaited.
Pawar was going to Baramati to attend a public meeting for the Zilla Parishad elections. Pawar was in Mumbai on Tuesday, where he attended the meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet’s Committee on Infrastructure chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.
Ajit Pawar has been the longest serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, not holding the post for two consecutive terms. He served as Deputy Chief Minister six times in various governments. He served 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, Jai and Parth Pawar. In 1982, Ajit Pawar started his political career after being elected to the board of a co-operative sugar factory. In 1991, he was elected Chairman of Pune District Central Cooperative Bank.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramati parliamentary constituency in 1991 and later vacated the seat for his uncle Sharad Pawar. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly seven times from Baramati Assembly constituency. He won for the first time in the 1991 by-election and subsequently won in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
In November 2019, he split with the NCP and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government and became the Deputy Chief Minister. In February 2024, the Election Commission granted the party name and symbol to the Ajit Pawar-led faction. (