Ajit Pawar: The abrasive strategist whose chief ministerial dream remained elusive

On Tuesday evening, hours before the crash, Pawar was at the Mantralaya, moving between meetings, trading remarks with legislators and reporters, and projecting the brusque familiarity that defined his public persona. Known for his dry humour and direct manner, he was equally feared and relied upon across party lines.

Popularly called “Ajit Dada”, Pawar cut a figure very different from his uncle Sharad Pawar or cousin Supriya Sule. His public conduct was marked by sharp words, impatience and a no-nonsense style that often landed him in controversy. The most enduring of these dates back to 2013, when he responded to farmers complaining about water scarcity with a remark about “urinating to fill empty dams”, later apologising for hurting sentiments.

Over the years, similar episodes followed — from rebuking a young IPS officer during an anti-illegal mining operation to snapping at flood-affected farmers in Marathwada demanding loan waivers. Party colleagues defended these as part of his temperament, arguing that his private conduct was far removed from his public abrasiveness.

Pawar entered politics in 1991 as chairman of the Pune District Cooperative Bank and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Baramati the same year. He vacated the seat for Sharad Pawar and contested the Baramati Assembly constituency instead, which he went on to represent uninterruptedly.

Seen early on as Sharad Pawar’s political heir, that perception shifted after Supriya Sule entered active politics in 2006. Still, Ajit Pawar steadily rose through the ranks — serving as minister, finance minister and deputy chief minister under Congress-led governments, the Maha Vikas Aghadi, and later the BJP-Shiv Sena-led Mahayuti.

His closest brush with the chief minister’s post came in 2004 when the NCP emerged larger than the Congress in the Assembly but ceded the top job as part of coalition negotiations — a decision Pawar later described as a strategic mistake.

His career was severely tested by allegations of a ₹70,000-crore irrigation scam during his tenure as water resources minister, forcing his resignation in 2012. The Anti-Corruption Bureau gave him a clean chit in 2019, but the episode left a lasting imprint.

The most defining turn in Pawar’s political journey came in November 2019, when he briefly aligned with the BJP to form a government that lasted 72 hours before collapsing. Though he returned to the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the rupture with Sharad Pawar widened.

In 2023, Ajit Pawar split the Nationalist Congress Party, taking a majority of MLAs with him and joining the Mahayuti alliance. He framed the move as a fight for political legitimacy, openly articulating long-simmering grievances about succession and authority within the party.

To consolidate his hold over Baramati, Pawar brought his wife Sunetra into politics, fielding her against Supriya Sule in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She lost, though later entered the Rajya Sabha. In the subsequent Assembly elections, Pawar retained Baramati, defeating his nephew Yugendra Pawar, and established his faction’s dominance within the NCP.

Yet, his position within the Mahayuti grew increasingly strained. Ministerial resignations, allegations involving his son Parth, and electoral setbacks in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad weakened his leverage. Once a decisive power centre in urban Maharashtra, Pawar found his influence shrinking amid BJP consolidation.

Colleagues described him as a meticulous administrator with little interest in national politics. His focus remained firmly on Maharashtra — on controlling its levers of power and administration.

In recent weeks, despite civic poll losses, Pawar had thrown himself into preparations for upcoming local body elections. On Wednesday morning, he was travelling to Baramati for campaign engagements when the aircraft crashed.

For a leader who spent three decades circling the state’s highest office, Ajit Pawar’s political story ends as one of relentless ambition — and a chief minister’s chair that remained just out of reach.