Ajit Pawar Dies In Plane Crash: Check Net Worth & His Congress-To-BJP Political History

Indian politician and the 8th deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, dies at the age of 67 in a plane crash at the Baramati Airport in Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar was the nephew of Sharadrao Pawar, the founder and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Following in his uncle's footsteps, Ajit Pawar also had a strong political career from NCP but shifted his gears in 2019 to join the current government-led saffron party.

Ajit Pawar Death:

As per a report from ANI, who cited the latest update of DGCA, Ajit Pawar, the deputy CM of Maharashtra, was onboard along with 2 more personnel (1 PSO and 1 attendant) and 2 crew members who were pilot captain and first office. As per the initial information, DGCA confirmed that no person on board survived the crash.

Pawar was seated in a business jet called VT-SSK which veered off the runaway, crashed and exploded at the Baramati Airport in Maharashtra, succumbing all five lives.

VT-SSK is a Learjet 45XR operated by VSR Aviation.

Ajit Pawar Net Worth:

According to latest information, Ajit Pawar's net worth stood at approximately Rs 103.16 crore as of 2019. In a decade, his net worth saw multi-fold growth from Rs 10 crore in 2009.

But he had assets worth Rs 124 crore and liabilities worth Rs 21 crore. Pawar was only HSC passed from Maharashtra Education Secondary High School in Baramati.

Ajit Pawar's Political Career:

Ajit was born in Deolali Pravara, Ahmednagar district to Ashatai Pawar and Anantrao Pawar who was brother of Sharad Pawar. Growing up, Ajit looked up to his uncle and eventually joined the Indian National Congress.

1980s

His first foray into politics was in the year 1982, where he was elected among the board of a cooperative sugar factory. Later on, he was elected as the chairman of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank in 1991 and he worked there for nearly 16 years.

1990s

But his big break emerged in 1991 where he was elected in the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Baramati Parliamentary constituency. But he gave up his seat for his uncle, Sharad who later was elected as defence minister to Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's government.

Despite vacating his seat in Lok Sabha, Ajit was already set for creating a mark for himself in the Indian political history. And the place Baramati where he died, was special for him and his career. For instance, Ajit was elected seven times to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Baramati Assembly constituency. His first win was in 1991 and he went ahead to five consecutive terms in 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014.

Between 1991 to 1992, Ajit also served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Power in CM Sudhakarrao Naik's government.

When his uncle Sharad was the Chief Minister, Ajit became the Minister of State for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning in 1992.

Later on, in 1999, Ajit joined as Cabinet Minister overseeing the irrigation department, in-line with the INC-NCP coalition government.

2000s

The 1990s where just a beginning, Ajit made some key notable changes for his life after 2000s.

Additionally, Ajit took charge of the Rural Development Department in 2003 as part of Sushilkumar Shinde's cabinet. And after when INC-NCP coalition won in the 2004 Assembly elections, Ajit retained his position in the Water Resources Ministry in Deshmukh's and later Ashok Chavan's cabinets.

Ajit has been a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra government from November 2004 to 2010. He worked with chief ministers like Vilasrao Deshmukh from November 2004 to December 2008, Ashok Chavan from December 2008 to November 2009, Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and Sunil Tatkare from November 2009 to November 2010.

He was the leader of the house in Maharashtra Legislative Council from November 2010 to September 2012 for K. Sankaranarayanan governor.

Ajit Pawar's Fallout From NCP:

One of the biggest shock in Maharashtra's political history was Ajit Pawar's rebel against his own uncle Sharad Pawar. On November 23, 2019, Ajit defected from the NCP and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

After the election of 2024, BJP got a clean sweep with Ajit and Eknath's breakup with NCP and Shiv Sena. This led Ajit to become the eight Deputy Chief Minister.

However, he submitted a paper with the signatures of NCP's MLAs to the Governor to prove the government's majority. However, the government collapsed less than 80 hours later and he resigned alongside then-CM Devendra Fadnavis. He subsequently 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, as per Wikipedia.

Later in 2022, following the split in the Shiv Sena, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government collapsed. Also, after the Shiv Sena faction and BJP formed a government with Eknath Shinde as CM, with Pawar following suit as the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.