Supriya Sule, along with Sunetra Pawar, reached Baramati on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after her cousin Ajit Pawar's plane crashed in the area early this morning after takeoff from Mumbai.
Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar's plane crashed in an open field at about 8:30 am while landing at Baramati airport.
The 66-year-old had been travelling in a Bombardier Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Aviation.
He was travelling with his personal security officer, an assistant, and two crew members at the time of the crash, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement.
Ajit Pawar was the nephew of veteran politician and Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar.
Pictures from Baramati showed MP Supriya Sule, who arrived along with Ajit Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar, and the late leader's son, Parth, breaking down in tears.
Vitthal Sheth Maniyar, an old friend of Sharad Pawar, was inconsolable as he met the family in Baramati. Supriya Sule was seen hugging Maniyar, who also broke down in tears while trying to console her.
As news of the plane crash broke, Supriya Sule said she was "devastated" by the tragic death of her "Dada".
"Devastated", Sule wrote on her WhatsApp status.
The Pawar family saw a bitter falling out in 2023, when Ajit Pawar led a major split in the NCP, breaking away from uncle Sharad Pawar's faction to join the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
However, despite the public split, Sule at the time maintained there were no personal differences with her "brother", Ajit Pawar.
"Relationships shouldn't come in between politics. The fight between the NCP and Ajit Pawar is ideological and not personal," she said at the time.
Recently, before the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, Sule again said that there has never been any issue within their family.
Pawar's NCP had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).
