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The 66-year-old grassroots politician, known for his administrative skills, died in an air crash on Wednesday morning (January 28) in his home turf Baramati in Pune district.
A seasoned politician, Ajit Pawar has never hidden his desire to become the CM of the state. Before joining the BJP and Shiv Sena coalition government in July 2023, he was the Deputy Chief Minister when Devendra Fadnavis was the Chief Minister in November 2019, his government lasting barely two days.
Unlike many politicians notorious for their lateness, Pawar was known as a workaholic and was renowned for his punctuality.
He had a record of being Deputy Chief Minister in several governments led by Congress, Shiv Sena and BJP.
His political career has had many ups and downs and he has always survived, be it the alleged ₹70,000 crore irrigation scam or the recent controversy over his son Parth’s land deal in Pune.
Ajit Pawar, fondly called “Dada” (elder brother), was known to speak his mind and never minced words when expressing his views, especially to rural audiences.
In 2013, Ajit Pawar had created a stir by making remarks ridiculing the severe shortage of water and electricity in some parts of the state. He was forced to issue a public apology after his remarks were widely criticized.
Addressing a public meeting at a village in Pune’s Indapur, he had mocked Bhaiya Deshmukh, a farmer from the drought-hit area of Solapur, who was on a hunger strike at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding more water.
He had said, “He has been fasting for the last 55 days. If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate in it? If there is no water to drink, even urination is not possible.”
Referring to the load shedding situation in some parts of the state, he had said, “I have seen that more children are being born after the lights are switched off at night. In such a situation, there is no other work left.” In July 2023, he stepped out from the shadow of his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar by rebelling against him and walking away with the party’s name and symbol along with most of the party’s MLAs.
After suffering a setback in last year’s Lok Sabha elections, where his party won only one seat, he stunned critics by winning 41 seats in the assembly elections five months later in alliance with the BJP. NCP (SP) got only 10 seats.
After the 2024 assembly results, Ajit Pawar has strengthened his position in state politics.
Despite the alliance with the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, he insisted that he had joined the ruling coalition for the sake of development, and that he had not deviated from his core progressive ideology.
He remained focused on his party and his ministries, while political speculation centered around the alleged one-upmanship between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Second Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Born on July 22, 1959, to Asha and Anantrao Pawar, Ajit Pawar entered politics in 1982, following the footsteps of his uncle (his father’s younger brother), Sharad Pawar, when he was elected to the board of a sugar factory.
In 1991, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramati and later vacated the seat for his uncle, who then became Defense Minister in the government of PV Narasimha Rao.
Ajit Pawar was the MLA of Baramati eight times since 1991.
Ahead of the 2024 assembly elections in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar has been using color psychology to portray himself as ‘Dada’ (elder brother) to the women voters of the state. Pink was everywhere in their campaign – from social media posts and event banners to the jackets they wore and the video of their song about the women-centric Ladki Bahin scheme.
Ajit Pawar, who was the finance and planning minister, will present his budget for 2026-27 next month when the budget session of the state legislature begins in Mumbai on February 23.
In the coming days, the focus will be on the future of the NCP factions, with talk in political circles of a possible merger of the two organisations.