Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others died in a plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday, ANI reported.

The small aircraft, a Learjet 45XR, crashed at about 8.45 am. Besides the Nationalist Congress Party leader and the two pilots, an attendant and a security officer were onboard.

The plane crashed while landing at an airstrip in Baramati town. It was flying from Mumbai.

Videos from the crash site posted on social media showed plane debris scattered and the fuselage engulfed in fire.

Ajit Pawar, the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party faction that is part of the state’s ruling alliance, was heading to Baramati to attend a political rally for the Zilla Parishad elections.

Following his death, Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar and cousin Supriya Sule, an MP from the rival NCP faction, travelled to Baramati.

Maharashtra Governor Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also travelled to Baramati.

His funeral will take place in Baramati on Thursday.

The Maharashtra government announced a three-day mourning for Ajit Pawar.

Shinde said that the crash will be investigated so that such incidents do not happen again.

Ajit Pawar was serving his sixth term as the deputy chief minister. He was also the MLA from the Baramati for seven consecutive terms.

The 66-year-old had been the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and an MP from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency.

In 2023, Ajit Pawar, along with several party MLAs, joined Maharashtra’s Mahayuti coalition government comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde. The move had led to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting him and the other backing his uncle and party founder Sharad Pawar.

The incident

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday said that the pilots had initiated a go-around during their first landing attempt as the runway was not in their sight. A go-around is the flight path taken by an aircraft after aborting a landing attempt.

At 8.43 am, the aircraft was cleared to land by the air traffic controller during the second attempt but the plane “did not give a readback of the landing clearance”, the ministry said.

The controllers “saw the flames around the threshold of [the] runway” at 08.44 am and emergency services were sent to the crash site.

The pilot in command had more than 15,000 hours of flying experience. The co-pilot had 1,500 hours of experience, the ministry said.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, a unit of the civil aviation ministry, is investigating the crash.

Shock across political lines

Political leaders from across party lines on Wednesday expressed shock and grief at Ajit Pawar’s sudden death.

Fadnavis said that losing a leader like Ajit Pawar was an “unprecedented loss” and added that there was an atmosphere of sadness in the state, ANI reported.

“In personal life, he was a good friend,” the BJP leader said. “We faced many challenges together. At a time when he was contributing to Maharashtra’s development, his untimely demise is a loss.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the NCP leader’s family and said that his untimely death was “very shocking and saddening”.

Modi described Pawar as a “leader of the people, having a strong grassroots level connect”.

“He was widely respected as a hardworking personality at the forefront of serving the people of Maharashtra,” the prime minister said on social media. “His understanding of administrative matters and passion for empowering the poor and downtrodden were also noteworthy.”

President Droupadi Murmu said that the news of Pawar’s death was extremely tragic.

“He will always be remembered for his special contribution to the development of Maharashtra, especially in the cooperative sector,” she said on social media. “I express my deep condolences to his family, supporters, and admirers.”

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that Ajit Pawar’s death was deeply shocking and profoundly distressing. “It is an untimely loss of a leader who had a long and promising political career ahead,” Kharge said.

He added that Pawar will be remembered “as a seasoned politician who discharged his responsibilities towards his people with sincerity and astuteness”.

Also read: Opposition demands independent probe into plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar