Ajit Pawar's Last Phone Call 10 Minutes Before Plane Crash: 'We Take All Castes & Religions Along With Us'

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday released an audio of Ajit Pawar’s last phone conversation before he died in a tragic plane crash on January 28 in Pune's Baramati.

Ajit Pawar’s last phone conversation was with a relative, Shrijeet Pawar, in which he gave a message of unity and equality, highlighting the need to take along all religions and castes.

Shrijeet claimed that he had messaged Ajit Pawar regarding the selection of some candidates for the Zilla Parishad elections. “I messaged him when he was in the aircraft. I think when his phone got network range, he called me to explain his decision, only 10 minutes before the crash,” Shrijeet said.

As heard in the audio, Ajit Pawar said in Marathi, “We take all castes and religions along with us.” “The Mali community has been given representation in the Zilla Parishad from the Supe group. We have tried to give justice to everyone,” he added.

Shrijeet said the audio was released to spread Ajit Pawar’s message of unity. “This is an attempt to bring this audio call recording to everyone’s attention so that Maharashtra knows what Ajit Dada’s thoughts were until his last breath,” said Shrijeet.

Ajit Pawar was Maharashtra’s longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister in non-consecutive terms, serving in the position for six terms under various governments. He worked as Deputy Chief Minister in the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde. After his death, his wife Sunetra Pawar has been appointed Deputy Chief Minister. She has also been made the Guardian Minister of Pune, a post Ajit Pawar held for a long time.