Supriya Sule, Sunetra Pawar break down as they meet family members after Ajit Pawar's death in plane crash — Video

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule and Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar, broke down in tears as they met other family members after the tragic death of the Maharashtra deputy chief minister in a plane crash.

The video, shared on ANI's Twitter handle (now X), showed Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar meeting the other family members after their arrival in Baramati from the national capital, overcome with emotion. Sharad Pawar is currently travelling to Baramati, according to the reports.

Ajit Pawar and four others, including pilots and a flight attendant, were killed after their chartered plane, struggling to land, crashed at the Baramati airport. Also Read | Ajit Pawar dies in plane crash: The rebel ‘dada’ at the centre of Maharashtra’s recent political storms is no more

The incident occurred when the Deputy CM was on his way to Baramati from Mumbai on Wednesday morning, en route to address four rallies for the zilla parishad elections on 5 February.

Following the news of Ajit Pawar's death, Supriya Sule expressed her feelings in a WhatsApp status with one word – ‘devastated’.

Ajit Pawar, 66, was the nephew of veteran politician and NCP founder Sharad Pawar, and the cousin of Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule. He is survived by his wife, Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.

He was Maharashtra’s longest-serving deputy chief minister in non-consecutive terms, having held the post six times under various governments. He served in the cabinets led by Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

Reacting to Ajit Pawar's death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was a leader of the people with a strong grassroots-level connection, and his death in the plane crash was untimely and very shocking.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis described Ajit Pawar’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.

Ajit Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati to address public meetings as part of the campaign for the 5 February zilla parishad elections in the state. According to Flight Radar, the flight took off from Mumbai at 8.10 AM and it disappeared from radar around 8.45 AM. The aircraft crashed at 8.50 AM, a police official said.

Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill said that after the crash, a fire broke out. “People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital,” he said.

(With agency inputs)