Leaf artist Madhurendra shows his artwork, a portrait of Ajit Pawar on a peepal leaf in Patna on January 29, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI
“TOasa ahe, Vinaya tai!” is how Ajit Pawar would start talking when asked. The literal translation is, “I’ll tell you how it is, Vinaya tai!” ‘Tai’, meaning sister, is a commonly used term of endearment and respect in Maharashtra. So is ‘Dada’, meaning elder brother. That’s how people addressed him and how he carried himself.
This was his typical way to start his answers, although he initially tried to be cautious when speaking to the national media. Soon after, true to his nature, he threw caution to the wind and spoke.
I remember asking him about the fiscal prudence of the Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana after it was introduced and provided ₹1,500 to eligible women in the state. It was also a time when state elections were coming up and the Mahayutis had promised that the amount would be increased to ₹2,100 if they were voted back to power. I asked him, “How is this even possible? How are you going to manage the state’s finances?”
While other leaders sidestepped any serious discussion, stressing that the promise would be fulfilled once the alliance returned to power, Pawar did not react in this way. He didn’t want to say it was impossible—that would go against the alliance line—but he also didn’t want to say it was possible. He expressed concern about the burden this would place on the exchequer. “Kasa ahe, Vinaya tai, we will have to take the Centre’s help if anything else needs to be done. If they come forward, we can do something,” he said, making it clear that any allocation beyond ₹1,500 is not possible on the state’s own strength.
In the pictures | Ajit Pawar’s Political Journey
Ajit Pawar became the youngest member of the Sudhakarrao Naik Cabinet after winning a record number of votes from Baramati. Sworn in by Maharashtra Governor C. Subramaniam at the Raj Bhavan in June 1991.
Ajit Pawar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (right) in Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s cabinet in November 2010 for the first time.
Ajit Pawar seen with another NCP leader and his cousin Supriya Sule during the Rashtrawadi Yuvati Melava in Satara, Maharashtra, in 2012.
Ajit Pawar (second from right) announced his resignation as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in Mumbai in 2012 following allegations of misappropriation of funds. It was eventually restored.
In this April 14, 2013 photo, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar sits in penitence, a day-long fast (Atma klesh) after using unfair language against drought-affected people, near the samadhi of YB Chavan in Karad, Maharashtra.
Praful Patel offers a bouquet to Ajit Pawar, who was elected as the leader of the NCP Legislative Assembly in October 2019.
Ajit Pawar in an assembly after filing his nomination for Baramati in 2019. He has represented the Assembly constituency a record eight times since 1991.
On 23 November 2019, as NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress tried to forge an alliance, Ajit Pawar along with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis (left) were sworn in as Deputy CM and Chief Minister of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Ajit Pawar briefly supported the BJP in 2019, but the government collapsed without adequate legislators to support it. Later in 2019, he joined Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP.
Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray with MVA leaders Nana Patole, Balasaheb Thorat and Ajit Pawar being felicitated during MVA ‘Vajramuth’ public rally in Nagpur in April 2023. Pawar was Deputy CM under Uddhav Thackeray for over two years.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar speaks as supporters implore Sharad Pawar to take back his decision to step down as president during a book launch in South Mumbai in May 2023.
Ajit Pawar will inaugurate the new NCP office near Mantralaya in Mumbai in July 2023.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on July 18, 2023.
In 2023, Ajit Pawar initiated a split within the NCP and allied with the BJP-Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena coalition. During this period, Eknath Shinde served as the Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra, with Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as the state’s Deputy Chief Ministers from 2023 to 2024.
Mahayuti leaders Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar celebrate during a press conference after the results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections held at the CM’s official residence in Mumbai in November 2024. The alliance won 233 of the 288 seats in the assembly, an unprecedented electoral sweep for Maharashtra.890
Ajit Pawar was sworn in as Deputy CM for the sixth time during an oath taking ceremony held at Azad Maidan, Mumbai on 5 December 2024.
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Pawar was known to speak harshly and some found it frightening. Sometimes it reflected his concern for their welfare. When former Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil chewed tobacco, Pawar repeatedly chastised him.
My last interaction with Pawar was a day before his sudden demise. After the Cabinet meeting, he came out of his chamber at the State Secretariat and I was standing right there. A day later in Baramati, his OSD (Officer on Special Duty) said to me amidst the shock of what had happened, “He asked about you later”. An interview for local body elections was awaited.
What stood out for me was his sense of discipline and dedication to public life like his uncle Sharad Pawar. Once, last year, he promised me an interview. As I was about to start rolling the camera, his team asked for some time and said he hadn’t had lunch in hours. I agreed and told them I would wait. Pawar said he would be back in 10 minutes.
He kept his promise. He came and sat next to me and said, “Ask anything you want.” I smiled when his team asked me to finish as soon as possible as he was already late due to his other commitment. And yet he indulged me much longer than the given slot and answered all my questions, including the difficult ones, with all seriousness. To me, he was a man who appreciated that I waited for him and made it up to me.
Ground Report: How Ajit Pawar’s tragic plane crash in Baramati unfolded?
As journalists, we are used to going to people’s bungalows or offices at any hour. I have seen visitors queuing up at his residence as early as 8 am. For someone who was always sitting in his chair at 6 a.m., politics was less of a calling and more of a relentless preoccupation. He strode through the State Secretariat with purposeful steps, rushing from one meeting to another as his staff informed him of his movements. He took the representations in one hand and handed them to the designated employees. Pawar was a leader who believed in multitasking.
A look at the life of Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra politics
His jokes will no longer be echoed in the corridors of the State Assembly, nor will the secretariat see the administrator who routinely took charge of the officers.
Published – 30 Jan 2026 0:38 IST
