Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar killed in plane crash

• Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on January 28.

• Pawar (66) had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.

• The Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by Delhi-based VSR Ventures, took off from Mumbai at 8.10 am and disappeared from radar around 8.45 am. The aircraft crashed at 8.50 am.

• There were five passengers, including Pawar, his Personal Security Officer and an attendant, along with two crew members (pilot-in-command and the first officer) on board when the aircraft crashed.

• Captain Shambhavi Pathak was co-piloting the aircraft along with the pilot in Command captain Sumit Kumar.

• Baramati is an uncontrolled airfield and traffic information is provided by the instructors/pilot from the Flying training Organisations at Baramati. 

• The Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.

• There will be no official entertainment during the mourning period.

• Ajit Pawar, who was the finance and planning minister, would have tabled his budget for 2026-27 next month when the state legislature's budget session begins in Mumbai on February 23.

Pawar was deputy CM in several govts

• Born on July 22, 1959 to Asha and Anantrao Pawar, Ajit Pawar followed the footsteps of his uncle (his father's younger brother) Sharad Pawar into politics in 1982 when he was elected to the board of a sugar factory.

• Fondly referred to as “Dada”, Ajit Pawar cut his teeth in politics at the grass root-level under the wings of Sharad Pawar.

• In 1991, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramati and later vacated the seat for his uncle who then became Defence Minister in P.V. Narasimha Rao’s government.

• Ajit Pawar then served as Baramati MLA for eight terms from 1991.

• He had the record of becoming the deputy Chief Minister in several governments, led by the Congress, Shiv Sena and BJP.

• His political career was marked by twists and turns.

• Before joining the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance government in July 2023, he was deputy CM when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM in November 2019, their government lasting barely two days.

• In July 2023, he stepped out of his uncle and NCP founder’s Sharad Pawar's shadow by rebelling against him and walking away with most of the party’s MLAs, along with the party’s name and symbol.

• After a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha election where his party won only one seat, he outwitted critics by bagging 41 seats in the Assembly polls five months later, in alliance with the BJP. The NCP(SP) got only 10 seats.