India, Jan. 29 -- Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed on Wednesday when a private aircraft crashed near Baramati airport in Pune district. The tragic death of the 66-year-old leader has created a major political vacuum in the BJP-led state government and raised uncertainty about the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.

Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to Pune district to address four rallies for the February 5 zilla parishad elections. His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar termed the crash an accident and appealed that it should not be politicised.

Those killed along with Pawar were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had over 15,000 hours of flying experience, co-pilot Captain Sha...