India, Jan. 29 -- For 32 of his 42 years in public life, Ajit Pawar enjoyed power. He was Maharashtra's deputy chief minister for a record 6 terms across political formulations. But the one position that he openly aspired to-that of the chief minister--eluded him right until the end. His death in an air crash at age 66 has abruptly ended a career marked by resilience, controversy, and an unrelenting drive for relevance at the highest level of power.

He was the first in the Pawar dynasty to make the ideological switch to share power with the BJP, in the process breaking the party built by his uncle Sharad Pawar, and which was his crucible. The alliance with the BJP-- with its increasingly strident Hindutva tenor--did not always sit natura...