India, Jan. 29 -- The death of Ajit Anantrao Pawar, 66, Maharashtra's deputy chief minister, in an aircrash on Wednesday is likely to have an impact on his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the NCP (SP) controlled by his uncle Sharad Pawar, and Maharashtra, perhaps even national, politics. A deputy CM in six governments, Pawar was a politician from the old school - much like his uncle - and for close to five decades, bestrode local politics in Maharashtra like a colossus, marrying mass-connect with a strong dose of realpolitik to not just always stay relevant, but to also, almost always, be on the winning side. Like many local politicians, he was embroiled in many corruption cases (making him a lightning rod for targetted attacks by rivals, including the Bharatiya Janata Party at one time), and his earthy sense of humour meant that he was no stranger to controversy, but he also acquired the reputation of being an able administrator. He understood Maharashtra's finances, and had a strong hold over it than most others, presenting 13 state budgets as the finance minister. And he rarely lost an election; for years, he was happy to be his uncle's protege, but while the senior Pawar (and later his daughter Supriya Sule) worked and walked the corridors of power in Delhi, Ajit Pawar quitely built a strong base in Maharashtra. That made him a power to reckon with in state elections, and a partner worth wooing. It was pragmatism (and a desire, once again, to be on the right side), that prompted him to split the NCP, a party he nurtured along with his uncle after their exit from the Indian National Congress in 1999; fittingly, given his reach in the state, he kept the name and symbol. But both factions fared poorly in two of the three elections that followed - the NCP in the 2024 Lok Sabha and recent local polls; and the NCP (SP) in the 2024 assembly and recent local polls. His death poses an existential problem for the NCP. The recent local poll results were not kind to both it and the NCP (SP), and there was talk that the two could merge, and be part of the BJP-led Mahayuti in the state, a move that would have made the party and Ajit Pawar more powerful within the alliance. His passing disrupts that plan, and leaves the NCP bruised at a time when its base is under threat from an ever-expanding BJP. Even if a merger were to go through, the party will need a new leader in the state: Sharad Pawar is 85 and has hinted at retirement; Sule's focus has been Delhi and national politics; and none of the leaders who stayed with Ajit Pawar has the connect he had with the electorate....