Supriya Sule “Devasted” As ‘Dada’ Ajit Pawar Dies In Plane Crash In Maharashtra’s Baramati

Ajit Pawar Plane Crash: Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) leader Supriya Sule on Wednesday said she was “devastated” following an aircraft incident of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar who died in an air crash in Pune’s Baramati area in the morning.

Supriya Sule, who is Pawar’s cousin, shared the single-word reaction on her WhatsApp status shortly after reports emerged of a chartered aircraft crash-landing at Baramati airport while carrying Ajit Pawar and five others.

Sule, along with senior NCP leader Praful Patel, his wife Sunetra, and son Parth, left for Baramati soon after the incident.

Ajit Pawar Plane Crash: Incident Occurred During Poll Campaign Travel

Ajit Pawar (66) was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati to attend public meetings linked to the campaign for the February 5 Zilla Parishad elections, police officials said. The aircraft reportedly ran into trouble while landing at around 8:50 am.

Authorities said further details regarding the incident are awaited.

Ajit Pawar Family’s Political Rift And Reconciliation

For decades, the Pawar family has remained central to Maharashtra’s cooperative movement and rural politics. However, the family witnessed a public political split in 2023, when Ajit Pawar led a breakaway faction of the NCP to join the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, parting ways with party patriarch Sharad Pawar.

At the time, critics linked the rift to the growing national stature of Supriya Sule, a Member of Parliament from Baramati and one of the most prominent faces of the NCP (SP). Despite the split, Sule consistently maintained that there were no personal differences within the family.

“Relationships should not interfere with politics. The disagreement is ideological, not personal,” Sule had said.

More recently, ahead of the Pune Municipal Corporation elections, Sule reiterated that there had never been any family discord. Notably, Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) contested the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls together.

ALSO READ: Ajit Pawar Dies In Plane Crash: Maharashtra Announces Public Holiday, Three-Day Mourning