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Ravi Kishan's reaction to Ajit Pawar's death in plane crash: 'Aaj ek raja chale gaye' | Video
Recalling his personal association with Pawar, Kishan said he was popularly known as "Baramati ka raja" (the king of Baramati).
BJP MP Ravi Kishan termed the death of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar as an "irreparable loss" to both the state and the country and said that he was known as "Baramati ka raja" (The king of Baramati). Track updates on Ajit Pawar death
Kishan, BJP's Gorakhpur MP, on Wednesday recalled his personal association with Pawar, chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who died in a fatal air crash in Baramati.
"There could not be a bigger loss for Maharashtra politics and for the country. I knew him personally, and he was known as 'Baramati ka raja', ‘Rajneeti ka raja’," Kishan said while talking to the press outside the Parliament. The Lok Sabha on Wednesday paid tribute to Ajit Pawar following his death in the tragic air crash.
'"Aaj ek raja chale gaye (a king has died today)," he said, as he hastily completed the sentence and sped away into the parliament building.
Ajit Pawar's death in air crash
Pawar died on Wednesday after the plane carrying him crashed in Baramati where he was scheduled attend public rallies for the upcoming rural body polls.
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According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation, five people, including the crew, on board the chartered plane flying from Mumbai, Maharashtra, to Baramati died after a crash-landing at 8.45 am on Wednesday. The crash landing of the Mumbai-Baramati charter plane occurred at the runway threshold in Baramati.
His last rites were performed at the Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati where a sea of supporters and political leaders, including CM Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CM Eknath Shinde, paid last respects.
At the packed Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati, Pawar’s sons Parth and Jay lit the funeral pyre as his wife Sunetra, who is a Rajya Sabha member, struggled to hold back tears, while the air resonated with chants of “Ajit Dada amar rahe".
The jet took off at 8.10 am from Mumbai for his home bastion of Baramati. Thirteen minutes later, the Learjet 45 aircraft began its descent but aborted the first landing attemp after the pilot couldn’t see the runway.
After circling back, pilots confirmed a second landing attempt at 8.43am but a minute later, the air traffic control saw flames near the runway as the aircraft veered off the course and crashed.
Union civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu initially suggested that the crash occurred during poor visibility. The ministry statement said conditions were calm and visibility at 3,000 metres.
Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving deputy chief minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms within various governments. He had worked as deputy chief minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
