Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash: Ajit Pawar, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, died on Wednesday 28 January after the plane he was traveling in crashed while attempting to land in Baramati, Maharashtra, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed. Ajit Pawar was 66.
According to preliminary reports, there were six passengers on the plane at the time of the crash, along with the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), his security personnel and the pilots.
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Ajit Anantrao Pawar was born in 1959 and was a senior politician and prominent leader in Maharashtra. Pawar served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a post he held several times. The senior leader originally from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) joined hands with the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2023 after defecting from the NCP faction led by his uncle, veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar.
Ajit Pawar’s death comes at a time when reports suggested a potential thaw between the two warring factions of the NCP, with speculation about his possible return to the Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance (MVA).
Just last week, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut expressed hope that Ajit Pawar would merge his faction with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
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“Though Ajit Pawar is part of the Mahayuti alliance, he remains associated with MVA. Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar will reunite as part of MVA. Ajit Pawar cannot sit on two stools,” Raut said.
Who was Ajit Pawar?
Ajit Pawar was popularly known as ‘dada’ – a term of respect – for his long career and grassroots connections. Ajit was considered a powerful leader from Baramati with deep roots in cooperative societies, banking and agriculture. Pawar started his political career in the 1980s.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over Ajit Pawar’s death and hailed him as a “people’s leader” with strong grassroots connections. “His untimely death is very shocking and saddening. My condolences to his family and countless admirers,” the Prime Minister said.
Ajit Pawar was the longest serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, serving continuously. He served six terms in office under different governments. He served in the cabinets of the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
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Pawar also served as Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2022 to 2023.
Political career
Pawar began his political journey through cooperative institutions — milk unions, sugar cooperatives and banks — before entering electoral politics. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramati in 1991 and later moved into state politics, representing Baramati in the Maharashtra Assembly.
He entered politics in 1982, when he was elected to the board of a cooperative sugar factory. In 1991, he was elected as the Chairman of Pune District Central Cooperative Bank and remained in the post for the next 16 years.
Pawar was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1991 from the Baramati parliamentary constituency. He later made way for his uncle Sharad Pawar, who then became the Defense Minister in Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao’s government.
Later, Pawar was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly seven times from the Baramati Assembly constituency. He first won in a by-election in 1991 and subsequently retained it for five consecutive terms in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. Pawar served as Minister of State for Agriculture and Power in the CM Sudhakarrao Naik government from 1991 to 1992.
Ajit became the Minister of State for Land Conservation, Power and Planning in 1992 when Sharad Pawar became the Chief Minister. In 1999, as part of the INC-NCP coalition government, he became the Cabinet Minister in charge of the Irrigation Department. In 2003, he was additionally given the Rural Development Department as part of Sushil Kumar Shinde’s cabinet.
After the Congress-NCP coalition won the 2004 parliamentary elections, he retained the ministry of water resources in the Cabinet of Deshmukh and later Ashok Chavan.
Mutiny against uncle Sharad Pawar
On 23 November 2019, he defected from the NCP to join the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government and became the Deputy Chief Minister. The government collapsed less than 80 hours later and he resigned alongside then CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Pawar returned to the NCP and on 1 December 2019 it was announced that he would take over as Deputy CM for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government after the start of the winter session of the state legislature on 16 December.
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In 2022, the Shiv Sena party split and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed. In 2022, the Shiv Sena party split and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed. In July 2023, Ajit Pawar split the NCP and joined the BJP-led Mahayuti government with the support of a large group of MLAs. He was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister alongside Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis.
This marked the formal split of the NCP into two factions. The Pawar-led faction received a name and symbol from the Election Commission of India.
Ajit Pawar Family
Ajit Pawar was born in Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar district on 22 July 1959. He is the son of Ashatai Pawar and Anantrao Pawar, brother of Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party and four-time former Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Pawar attended school in Deolali Pravara but dropped out of college to help his family after his father’s death. He was married to Sunetra Pawar with whom he has two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.
Ajit Pawar Net Worth
According to his last election declaration, Ajit Pawar’s net worth was declared at approx ₹103.16 crore, with total assets of around ₹124.55 crore and liabilities of approx ₹21.4 million.
Ajit Pawar’s movable and immovable assets include real estate, agricultural land, financial investments and other properties. In the affidavits filed during the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Ajit Pawar has listed movable assets worth over ₹8 million and real estate over ₹37 million.
Ajit Pawar was popularly known as ‘Dada’ for his long career and common association.
Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha MP, has declared as movable assets more than ₹14.5 million and properties priced at around ₹58.4 million crowns.
In 2021, properties associated with Ajit Pawar and his family worth almost ₹1,000 crore, were attached by the tax authorities as part of the Benami wealth probe. However, in 2024, an appeals tribunal acquitted him citing a lack of evidence and ordered the return of the confiscated property.
