‘Dada’ to supporters, heir to Pawar politics: 5 turning points of ‘workaholic’ Ajit Pawar’s life | India News
NEW DELHI: He was ‘Dada’ to supporters and a headache to opponents – a working politician with a sharp tongue and sharp instincts. Ajit Pawar Never stopped chasing the top job and his politics always bore the impatience of a man running out of time. A six-time deputy chief minister, feared for his authority, respected for his administrative grip and often criticized for his rough edges, Pawar seemed a perennial contender for Maharashtra’s top chair, yet never quite got there.
On Wednesday morning, his life ended abruptly in a plane crash near Baramati, leaving behind a career defined by the impact of his home turf, unfulfilled ambition.Ajit Pawar (66) was traveling from Mumbai to Baramati to campaign for local elections when the plane crashed. All five on board were killed, including two of his staff and two crew members. An investigation is underway with the authorities to ascertain what caused the accident.But beyond the headlines of a tragic death lies a larger political story, that of a Trinamool leader who mastered the state’s rural electricity networks, repeatedly reached the threshold of power and then saw the chief ministership just out of reach.Here are 5 turning points in his life and politics:
1. Manufactured in Baramati, forged in cooperative belt
Ajit Pawar’s political education began not in a television studio, but in Maharashtra’s most sustainable power plant – the sugar and cooperative ecosystem. Born on July 22, 1959 to Asha and Anantrao Pawar, he entered politics in 1982, when he was elected to the board of a sugar factory, following his uncle. Sharad Pawarits wayThe Baramati brand has given him what few leaders have, a constituency that acts like a fortress and a political machinery that runs year-round. His rise to charisma was not sudden. It was organizational engineering.
2. Deputy CM and Punctual ‘Workaholic’
Pawar became Deputy CM multiple times throughout the coalition, a record six terms, and earned a reputation as a punctual workaholic, unusual in a political culture notorious for procrastination.This phase was his strongest political identity, the administrator who could “deliver”. Even rivals grudgingly admitted that he understood how the state machinery worked and how to push it. His command over the Ministries of Finance and Planning further consolidated that authority. He is expected to present the Maharashtra Budget 2026-27 next month.
3. Controversy that hurt him, but didn’t break him
If Power’s supporters saw him as decisive, his critics saw a leader who attracted controversies as regularly as he attracted power. Allegations related to the irrigation scam and later the controversy over his son Perth’s land deal became repeated political ammunition against him. Yet the pattern was consistent: the man remained standing.His most infamous public controversy came in 2013, when he mocked the state’s drought crisis while addressing a village rally in Indapur, leading to outrage and a forced apology. The episode revealed both sides of his personality: politically astute, and often unhinged.
4: 2019 dawn of swearing and hunger for power
In November 2019 came the political move that turned him from a state heavyweight to a national plotline: the early morning swearing-in incident with Devendra Fadnavis. Ajit Pawar became deputy CM in a government that lasted only two days, but its impact was much longer.It was not mere opportunism. It was a signal. Pawar never made a secret of his ambition for the post of chief minister. That morning widely saw him move out of the “uncle’s heir” frame and into the “I can take power” frame. It was not successful, but it permanently defined him as Maharashtra’s most unpredictable power player.
5. 2023 Separation from Sharad Pawar, then a reunion
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar executed the biggest crack of his career – he rebelled against Sharad Pawar, walked away with most of the MLAs and entered into an alliance with the BJP-Shiv Sena government. The move didn’t just split a team, it split a legacy.Yet politics rarely respects personal drama. After a weak Lok Sabha showing in which his party won just one seat, he returned to the assembly polls with 41 seats, strengthening his position and silencing critics, at least temporarily.Then came the twist again. Ahead of the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls, Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar were seen strategically reuniting to avoid vote-splitting. Power publicly justified this as practical politics, saying that two parties fighting each other would only help the opposition.That “reunion” fueled speculation about a future merger of the parties, rumors that now hang in the air after his sudden death.A six-time deputy CM, Ajit Pawar was the state’s most relentless power operator, feared by rivals and valued by allies. He formed governments, split parties and rewrote the equations, often overnight. He didn’t become Chief Minister, but in Maharashtra politics, few people controlled the field like him.
