Ajit Pawar's itinerary: What he had planned if plane did not crash

Baramati: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash on Wednesday morning while travelling to Baramati for a public rally scheduled later in the day. The charter aircraft he was aboard went down near the town in Pune district, cutting short what was planned as a full day of political engagements.

With elections underway to the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis, Pawar was scheduled to address a public meeting in Baramati, his home turf, as part of the campaign. He was travelling from Mumbai to take part in election-related programs ahead of the February 5 Zilla Parishad polls in the state.

The 66-year-old minsiter was in Mumbai on Tuesday, where he attended a meeting of the Maharashtra Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure, chaired by CM Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other officials were also present.

The small charter aircraft took off from Mumbai at around 8 am and crashed near Baramati airport about 45 minutes later while attempting to land. The Learjet 45 (registration VT-SSK), chartered for the journey, developed problems during its approach. Emergency responders arrived quickly, but the aircraft burst into flames on impact and all on board were killed, officials said.

Deputy CM Pawar’s family rushed to the accident site. Pawar’s wife and party MP Sunetra Pawar and son Parth Pawar, are set to leave for Baramati from Delhi, along with the leader's cousin, and NCP-SP working president Supriya Sule. 

Three bodies were rushed to the Baramati Medical College. The identification of the bodies is underway, as per the Pune Superintendent of Police (SP). A team of DGCA officials has arrived at the plane crash site.

This incident comes after several aviation-related scares for the leader. In October 2024, a helicopter intended to pick up his party colleague Sunil Tatkare crashed in Pune, and there have been previous instances of emergency landings in the region due to bad weather.

(With inputs from ANI & IANS)