Kolhapur: The state has lost one of its most influential figures in the cooperative sector, as the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a tragic plane crash has sent shockwaves across Maharashtra’s political and agricultural landscape.
Pawar died on Wednesday morning when the aircraft he was travelling in crashed near Baramati airport. He was on his way from Mumbai to attend an election campaign meeting for the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls.
Six people, including Ajit Pawar, lost their lives in the accident.
His sudden demise has caused an irreparable loss to the state’s cooperative sector. More significantly, Maharashtra’s sugar industry has been deprived of the leadership of a far-sighted and decisive figure who was widely regarded as a guiding force in the sector.
Like his predecessors, Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, and Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar was known as a leader with a deep understanding of cooperatives and the sugar industry.
His politics revolved around the sugar sector in Maharashtra and helped in shaping new direction to the cooperative sector in the Maharashtra.
Several cooperative and private sugar factories in Western and southern Maharashtra were operating under the direct or indirect influence of Pawar.
Pawar consistently pushed for sustainable agricultural growth, the adoption of new technologies, and policies aimed at strengthening rural livelihoods.
Initiatives such as the use of artificial intelligence in agriculture, the Jalyukt Shivar programme (water conservation scheme), ‘One Taluka, One Market’, river-linking projects, bamboo cultivation, irrigation schemes, and grid-based water supply systems for farmers were promoted during his leadership. Through the Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), he also played a vital role in advancing the state’s sugar industry.
Ajit Pawar was born on 22nd July 1959 at Deolali Pravara in Rahuri taluka of Ahmednagar district.
He was known among the people as “Ajit Dada” because of his tireless striving for the people of Maharashtra and his ability to stay connected to the people and the soil.
Apart from making significant contributions to government administration, Pawar headed the management of various cooperative organisations such as Milk Unions and Federations, as well as Sugar factories.
The journey of Ajit Dada’s leadership began and continued with different institutions such as milk unions, various cooperative societies, sugar factories, and banks took a new direction in 1991 when he was elected to the Lok Sabha. He would later vacate the Baramati seat for his uncle Sharad Pawar. Since then, he has held many more positions, including MLA, Minister of State for various critical government departments, and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1991 from the Baramati Parliamentary constituency and later vacated the seat for his uncle, Sharad Pawar. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly seven times from the Baramati Assembly constituency. He first won in a 1991 by-election and subsequently in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.
In November 2019, he engineered a split in the NCP and joined a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and became the Deputy Chief Minister. In February 2024, the Election Commission awarded the party name and symbol to the faction headed by Ajit Pawar.
Despite this, Ajit Pawar was known to be very close to his uncle Sharad Pawar, under whose guidance, he started his political career. In the recently held Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Elections, the two rival factions of the NCP came into an alliance and projected a united development agenda for Pune.
Ajit Pawar was famed for his straightforward approach and frankness. He is survived by his wife, Sunetra Pawar and two sons, Jay and Parth Pawar.
