Crusader, Corrupt Or Victim Of Conspiracy? | The Contested Legacy Of Ajit Pawar
The death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash near Baramati on January 28, 2026, has triggered not just mourning but fierce debate about the man’s true legacy and whether the timing of his death—amid reconciliation talks with his uncle Sharad Pawar—was coincidence or conspiracy. In a political career spanning three decades, Pawar accumulated equal measures of popular affection, corruption allegations, and political fratricide.
The Crash
A chartered Learjet 45XR (registration VT-SSK) crashed 100 feet short of the Baramati runway at 8:45 AM, killing all five on board: Pawar, two pilots, a cabin attendant, and his personal security officer. Witnesses described a normal approach followed by a sudden malfunction and catastrophic fire. The aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Private Limited, had departed Mumbai en route to Pawar’s constituency for scheduled programs.
The timing is fueling conspiracy theories. The crash occurred as political rumors swirled about Ajit Pawar’s imminent reconciliation with Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction—a development that would have threatened Devendra Fadnavis’s BJP-led Maha Yuti government. Notably, the same operator, VSR Ventures, experienced a non-fatal landing accident with a Learjet 45XR at Mumbai airport in 2023.
This follows a pattern of high-profile Indian political deaths in aviation incidents: General Bipin Rawat (2021), Arunachal Pradesh CM Dorjee Khandu (2011), Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (2009), and others. Critics point to inadequate regulatory oversight and the frequency of crashes during politically sensitive periods.
Mamata Banerjee, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and AAP leader Somnath Bharti have all demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation, citing lack of trust in the DGCA and central agencies. Sharad Pawar’s faction has called for a CBI probe.
A Career of Contradictions
Ajit Pawar (born July 22, 1959) cannot be understood through a single lens. His political journey reveals both genuine administrative competence and relentless controversy:
Administrative Record:
- Known for 6 AM meetings and decisive file clearance
- Blunt, action-oriented style that bypassed bureaucratic inertia
- Credited with advancing the Pune Metro and Samruddhi Mahamarg projects
- Developed the “Baramati model” as a claimed global case study in constituency development
- Won Baramati assembly seat seven consecutive times, often by record margins
Controversies:
- The Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam (1999-2009 as Water Resources Minister): Thousands of crores spent without measurable irrigation potential increase. Though not charged with embezzlement, administrative failures were documented. Devendra Fadnavis had previously promised to jail Pawar over this issue.
- The 2013 Solapur farmer hunger strike remark: “If there’s no water in the dam, what should I do, urinate?” Pawar later called it his life’s biggest mistake and performed a day of tapasya.
- Party switching and political opportunism: The 2019 pre-dawn oath-taking with Devendra Fadnavis (80-hour government), followed by return to Sharad Pawar’s camp, then 2023 split to join BJP. His actions earned him the label “ultimate power broker.”
The NCP Fracture
The relationship with Sharad Pawar deteriorated after Parth Pawar’s 2019 Lok Sabha defeat, which Ajit attributed to lack of support from the party’s Delhi leadership. The breaking point came July 2023, when Ajit—fearing marginalization in a post-Sharad NCP—split the party, taking most MLAs with him.
The Election Commission’s February 2024 decision awarding the NCP name and clock symbol to Ajit’s faction was devastating to Sharad Pawar. It represented not just a rebellion but a complete theft of political identity. The 2024 Lok Sabha battle in Baramati—Sunetra Pawar versus Supriya Sule—was the personalization of this feud, with Supriya winning comfortably.
Yet even in opposition, Ajit remained popular in his constituency. As one observer noted: “His supporters will not remember him for corruption and party switching. They will remember him as the leader who could get a hospital or a road built with just one signature.”
The Conspiracy Questions
Why would someone want Ajit Pawar dead—and if so, why now?
Political Motives:
- His presence was key to maintaining BJP-Shinde-Sena coalition discipline
- Without him, Fadnavis loses leverage over Eknath Shinde
- A united NCP (if Ajit and Sharad reconciled) could topple the state government
- The recent municipal election alliances between Pawar factions had already complicated the coalition
Personal Enemies:
- Irrigation scam victims seeking accountability
- Political rivals facing his ” blunt” criticism
- Criminal elements whose interests he may have crossed
Yet Skeptics Ask:
- Would the BJP risk the political fallout of assassinating a sitting Deputy CM?
- Would Sharad Pawar risk his family’s legacy and nephew’s life for political advantage?
- Could this simply be an accident amplified by political timing?
The demand for a CBI investigation reflects deep distrust—not just of the DGCA’s competence (which is widely questioned), but of the central government’s political will to uncover truth. Pawar’s critics in the BJP and Sena have long accused him of corruption; his supporters see a targeted elimination.
What Was Ajit Pawar’s Legacy?
The answer varies dramatically by perspective:
Development Champion: His supporters emphasize the “get-it-done” approach that delivered tangible infrastructure in Baramati and Pune region. In a political culture where promises often vanish into bureaucracy, Pawar’s reputation for actually completing projects created immense goodwill. The Baramati model, whatever its precise definition, represented performance-based politics.
Corruption Personified: His detractors point to the irrigation scam as emblematic of cooperative sector political economy—leveraging banks, sugar factories, and water resources for personal and familial enrichment. The fact that no financial embezzlement charges were proven despite a decade of scrutiny doesn’t absolve administrative failure or patterned enrichment.
Power Without Principle: His party-switching—three major defections in six years—earned him the reputation of an unprincipled opportunist. The 2019 betrayal of the MVA, the 2023 split of his own party—these were not ideological moves but calculations of personal survival and advancement. Yet even critics acknowledge his survival skills as a form of political art.
The Last Secular Leader? Some commentators have called him Maharashtra’s last genuinely secular leader—a designation that sits awkwardly with his BJP alliance but reflects his personal distance from Hindutva ideology. His administrative focus transcended communal politics, a rarity in contemporary BJP-dominated Maharashtra.
Maharashtra’s Political Future
Pawar’s death creates immediate instability:
- BJP government vulnerability: Fadnavis loses his balancing agent against Shinde
- NCP reunification possibility: The two factions may merge—or fight over his legacy and seats
- Congress calculation: Can it rebuild MVA without Pawar’s NCP faction?
- Shiv Sena dynamics: Shinde’s faction loses a moderating influence
The Election Commission may have to adjudicate factional claims if the party reunites. By-elections could determine whether Fadnavis can maintain his majority.
The National Dimension
Beyond Maharashtra, Pawar’s death removes a potential ally for the Congress in anti-BJP coalition building. His relationship with Sharad Pawar, while fractured, could have been repaired. His evident dissatisfaction with the BJP in recent months (he was leveling corruption allegations) suggested he might have been exploring options.
Instead, his death cements the BJP’s domination of Maharashtra politics for the immediate future. The opposition loses one of its most effective regional operators—a leader who could win elections, deliver development, and maintain communal amity.
The Irony of His Demise
In his final months, Pawar was attempting to reposition himself—distancing from the BJP, reaching out to his uncle, rebuilding his secular credentials. The very reversals that made him a political survivor—his flexibility, his willingness to switch sides—ultimately isolated him. Neither faction fully trusted him.
And now, dead at 66, his legacy exists only in contested memory. His supporters will build statues, name institutions, and tell stories of the leader who got things done. His detractors will cite the irrigation scam, the betrayals, the power-hungry opportunism. History may be kind to neither side.
The conspiracy theorists will point to the bizarre coincidence of timing—the reconciliation talks, the political instability his death would cause, the previous Learjet accident. They will ask why no one has been held accountable for the 2023 incident. They will note that India’s aviation safety record has deteriorated as political pressure on regulators increases.
The truth, as is so often the case, may be simpler: India’s aviation infrastructure is aging, oversight is weak, and VIPs often fly in questionable weather to meet political schedules. Get-there-itis claims lives regularly. But when the death removes a figure who threatened powerful interests, coincidence becomes conspiracy in the public mind.
What cannot be contested: Maharashtra has lost its most consequential politician of the past two decades, a man who shaped the state’s development and destabilized its politics in equal measure. Whether crusader, corrupt, or victim, Ajit Pawar’s shadow will long persist over Maharashtra’s fractured political landscape.