The sudden death of an influential leader has left a political vacuum in India's richest state.
Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, died on Wednesday in a plane crash along with four others.
Maharashtra's political landscape is notoriously complex - a web of shifting alliances, regional loyalties and rivalries. For decades, Ajit Pawar navigated it with a mixture of pragmatism and shrewdness, swiftly rising through the ranks.
Yet, beneath the public triumphs, his journey was also deeply personal: a struggle to emerge out of the formidable shadow of his uncle Sharad Pawar - the founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a dominant figure in Indian politics.
Born in 1959, Ajit Pawar entered politics in the 1980s under his uncle's mentorship, particularly focusing on the Pawar family stronghold of Baramati, a rural area in western Maharashtra where sugar cooperatives, banks and local institutions helped secure both economic influence and political loyalty.
From an early age, Ajit Pawar was seen as the uncle's visible heir. But he was determined to forge his own path.
To many, Sharad Pawar represented old-school authority: patient and strategic, known for coalition-building skills. Ajit Pawar, on the other hand, focused on regional power, governance and control over local political networks.
His style was markedly different, as Ajit was blunt and practical, His mercurial personality earned him both loyal supporters and vocal critics.
As his authority grew, so did his frustration. Despite his rapid ascent within the NCP, he was frequently overshadowed by his uncle's longstanding influence.
In 2019, Ajit Pawar briefly aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government but quickly returned to his uncle's fold after the move failed.
Four years later, he successfully broke from the NCP, leading another coalition government aligned with the BJP and taking control of the NCP name and symbol.
This move initiated a significant rift in the Pawar family, leading to separate political trajectories.
His recent death has temporarily halted discussions of possible reconciliation between the two factions of the NCP.
Questions now linger about the future of the party and who will lead it, as Ajit Pawar leaves behind a fractured legacy shaped by ambition and familial dynamics.
Additional reporting by Nilesh Dhotre from BBC Marathi