Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has died in a plane crash at Maharashtra’s Baramati this morning. The Civil Aviation Ministry informed that a Learjet 45 (VT-SSK) aircraft, operated by VSR, crash-landed at Baramati airport earlier today.
The Ministry added that there were five personnel on board, including the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, two more personnel and two crew members. Officials said that no one on board survived the crash.
Akashvani’s correspondent reports that Ajit Pawar, popularly known in Maharashtra as ‘Dada’, was a dominant force in Maharashtra politics. Ajit Pawar represented the Baramati Assembly constituency seven times since 1991, winning by massive margins on every occasion. Ajit Pawar held various ministerial posts during his career spanning more than three decades.
In November 2019, he rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis in an early-morning ceremony.
In less than four days, he returned. Around three and a half years later, Ajit Pawar led a major vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party, joined the Eknath Shinde-led government and has been serving as Deputy Chief Minister since then.
Leaders across the political spectrum, including the Governor of Maharashtra and Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Maharashtra Congress President Harshwardhan Sapkal, and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, have expressed deep shock and sadness over the untimely demise of Ajit Pawar. A government holiday has been declared across the state today, and three days of state mourning will be observed.