Mumbai: Early Wednesday morning, January 28, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash in Baramati in Maharashtra’s Pune district.
Known for his often blunt remarks, Ajit Anantrao Pawar, aged 66, was born on July 22, 1959, in Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, to Ashatai Pawar and Anantrao Pawar. He was the nephew of one of the founders and the President of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Sharad Pawar, and was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra under different Chief Ministers.
He was serving as the Deputy CM alongside Eknath Shinde under CM Devendra Fadnavis in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra.
Personal life
In his early life, Pawar, a student of state board education, dropped out of college after his father died in order to help his family. He married Sunetra Pawar in 1985 and leaves behind two children, Jay and Parth Pawar.
His earliest involvement in politics was recorded in 1982 when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory.
Rise to politics
Born in one of the most influential political families, Pawar was raised under the imposing presence of Sharad Pawar, who rebelled against the Indian National Congress Party in 1999 after a major dispute over the right of Sonia Gandhi to lead the Congress.
Sharad, PA Sangma, and Tariq Anwar were expelled from the INC and subsequently formed the NCP, which had a turbulent political journey with contradictory phases of aligning with Congress and the BJP.
Ajit Pawar was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Baramati parliamentary constituency in 1991, but vacated the seat the same year. He was first elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Baramati assembly constituency in a by-election in 1991 and went on to represent the constituency seven times up to 2014.
Pawar has a portfolio of serving in various industries. He was a minister of the state for soil conservation and power planning under his uncle, and served in the Water Resources Ministry under Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan’s cabinets.
Pawar’s controversial remarks, 2023 split from uncle Sharad
While the NCP was very publicly divided and contested between the Pawar nephew and uncle duo, the late Pawar had made his mark in Indian politics with more than just his long tenure.
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar publicly went against his uncle and joined the BJP-Shiv Sena government, taking oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. His move garnered support from a minority of then-unified NCP sitting MLAs who had defected. Pawar strongly claimed ownership of the party and informed the Election Commission of India that he was the party’s president. It had created a massive rift between Sharad’s loyalists and those who supported Pawar. The Dy CM had even urged his uncle to retire and give way to the young leaders, criticising Sharad’s leadership for not joining the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
Arguably, one of his most controversial moments in recent times was a viral purported recording of a phone call in which Pawar chided a woman police officer, who was in the midst of taking action against illegal excavation of ‘murrum’ soil in Solapur district. He had appeared to admonish and threaten the officer on the call, sparking debate over the misuse of political influence over law enforcement.
However, NCP claimed that Pawar didn’t intend to stop the action but might have berated the officer to placate party workers.
Popularly known as Dada, in 2013, he had claimed to make the “biggest mistake of his life” after his crass comment during a speech in Indapur received massive backlash. Reacting to a 55-day hunger strike by activists protesting the Maharashtra government’s failure to supply water amid a severe drought, Pawar reportedly asked whether he should “urinate into the dam” to acknowledge the shortage.
Crash on January 28, 2026
Along with Pawar, four other persons were killed after an aircraft carrying them crashed while they were landing in Baramati. Visuals from the site show the wreckage of the plane engulfed in flames.
According to Flight Radar, the flight took off from Mumbai at 8.10 am and it disappeared from radar around 8.45 am. A source told PTI that the aircraft pilot had mentioned poor visibility near the runway before the aircraft attempted the landing.
Meanwhile, several political leaders, entrepreneurs, and actors expressed shock and offered condolences after his death.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to enquire about the plane crash.
In a post on X, Modi said Pawar’s death was untimely and very shocking.
“Saddened by the tragic air crash in Baramati, Maharashtra. My thoughts are with all those who lost their loved ones in the crash. Praying for strength and courage for the bereaved families in this moment of profound grief,” the PM said.
“Today, the news of the loss of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister and our senior NDA colleague Ajit Pawar ji in a tragic accident has left my heart deeply distressed,” Amit Shah said in an X post.
Calling Pawar one of Maharashtra’s most “dynamic leaders,” Bollywood actor Ritesh Deshmukh son of Vilasrao Deshmukh also expressed sadness over his death.
“Deeply shocked and terribly heartbroken to learn that we have lost Ajit Dada in a tragic accident. One of Maharashtra’s most dynamic leaders, he had zero tolerance for non-performance and constantly pushed and inspired those around him to excel. He never minced his words, his wit was unmatched, and he was deeply loved across the state,” the actor said.
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