There is a possibility of major changes in the state and especially Maratha politics due to the death of Ajit Pawar in the plane crash in Baramati.
People who made fun of Ajit Pawar, who was the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the longest time, started calling him ‘Permanent Deputy’. But ‘Ajit Dada’, beloved by his fans, believed that politics goes through ups and downs. Ajit Pawar, who started his political journey in 1982, was elected to the board of a sugar cooperative society for the first time. He made this small post bigger with his hard work and gradually started making progress in the cooperative sector. Then came 1991 and he became MLA from Baramati for the first time. From time to time, he handled the irrigation, finance and water resources departments in the government and went on increasing his influence in the politics of Maharashtra.
His nature to keep moving forward came to a halt with the chartered plane crash on the morning of 28 January. The plane they were traveling in crashed in Baramati near Pune. Along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar, four other people were on board. He had left for Baramati from Mumbai to address a meeting in connection with the District Panchayat elections. Before landing, a fire broke out in the lower part of the plane and the plane crashed during an emergency landing.
66-year-old Ajit Pawar had been the Deputy CM of the state six times. He learned the tricks of politics from his uncle, Sharad Pawar and kept moving forward. His father was Anantrao Pawar.
He never learned to lose. Ajit, who won the Lok Sabha once and the Assembly eight times, did not lose a single election in his 36 years of political career. Eight-time MLA from Baramati, Ajit had defeated his own brother’s son Yugendra Pawar by more than 1 lakh votes in the 2024 elections. Ajit, an expert in maneuvering and negotiation in politics, got angry with his own uncle when Sharad Pawar made his daughter Supriya Sule the NCP chief. Before this step, it was believed that Ajit was the true political successor of Sharad Pawar. Whatever the case, he suddenly reached Governor Bhavan on the morning of 23 November 2019 with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to form the government and take oath. Then after the elections, due to no party getting majority, the claim on the government was postponed and President’s rule was imposed in Maharashtra. The then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari administered the oath of office to BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister and Ajit as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Last flight: Wreckage of NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s plane in Baramati
That day there was a storm in Maharashtra politics. Soon this drama came to an end as Ajit resigned and went towards uncle Sharad Pawar. But he made it clear that he had learned the art of taking risks for power better from his uncle.
However, later he broke the NCP and became the Deputy Chief Minister in the Eknath Shinde government and also got the party’s name and election symbol from the Election Commission. This case is still pending in the Supreme Court. Here, for some time, especially before the municipal elections, he turned towards his uncle and both the parties contested elections together especially in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. There were also reports that Ajit’s mother Asha Tai Pawar was continuously trying to bring about a reconciliation between Sharad and him. It is said about Ajit that he had no enmity with anyone. He was everyone’s friend.
Born on 22 July 1959 in Devlali Pravara village of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, Ajit had seen farmers struggling with financial problems since childhood. This proved to be the foundation of his politics. 66-year-old Ajit Pawar’s family includes wife Sunetra Pawar and his two sons Jai and Parth.