"In Politics, One Has To Pay Price For Candour": Raj Thackeray On Ajit Pawar

Ajit Pawar's death is a tragic blow for Maharashtra at a time when administration must rise over those in power, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has said. Thackeray said Ajit Pawar was remarkably straightforward, and it was not his style to make promises and deceive people. He also said one has to "pay the price" for candor in politics. 

Hours after the NCP chief and Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister died in a shocking plane crash in Baramati, Raj Thackeray put up a tribute on X.

"My friend and Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Ajit Pawar, has passed away. Maharashtra's politics has lost an outstanding leader. Ajit Pawar and I entered politics around the same time, though our acquaintance came much later. But on the strength of his sheer passion for politics, Ajit Pawar took great strides in Maharashtra's political arena. Though Ajit Pawar was a leader forged in the mold of Pawar Saheb, he later carved out his own independent identity. And he imprinted that identity in every nook and corner of Maharashtra," he said.

"In the 1990s, urbanisation gained momentum in Maharashtra. Rural areas began tilting toward semi-urbanisation, yet the tone of politics there remained rural, even as the nature of their issues started turning somewhat urban. Ajit Pawar had a complete grasp of this kind of politics and the skill to handle it adeptly. Pimpri Chinchwad and Baramati are two excellent examples of that. Whether it was Pimpri Chinchwad or Baramati, Ajit Dada transformed these regions in ways that even his political opponents would acknowledge," Thackeray wrote.

The MNS chief said Ajit Pawar had a precise grip on administration and knew how to disentangle stuck files. "In an era when administration must rise above those in power, it is extremely tragic that Maharashtra has lost such a leader," he wrote.

"Ajit Pawar was remarkably straightforward. If something couldn't be done, he'd say it to your face, and if it could, he'd put all his energy into it. Deceiving people by making promises and surrounding himself with crowds wasn't his style. In politics, one has to pay a price for straightforwardness and candour - I know that from experience, and one can imagine how much Ajit Pawar must have had to pay for it," Raj Thackeray wrote.

"Another quality of Ajit Pawar that I admired was that he was utterly free of caste bias, and caste had absolutely no place in his politics. In today's politics, leaders who demonstrate the courage to engage without regard for caste are dwindling, and Ajit Pawar was undoubtedly at the forefront among them.

Opposition in politics is political, not personal. That's why leaders in Maharashtra who keep in mind that poisonous criticism of each other shouldn't be taken personally are becoming fewer. The successive departure of generous opponents from politics is a great loss to Maharashtra's fine political tradition.

My family and I share in the grief of the Pawar family. On behalf of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, heartfelt tribute to Ajit Pawar," the MNS chief added.