BARAMATI: Grief swept through Baramati in Pune district on Thursday as Maharashtra bid farewell to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who lost his life in a tragic plane crash, with his last rites performed with full state honours.

At the packed Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati, Pawar’s sons Parth and Jay lit the funeral pyre as his wife Sunetra, who is a Rajya Sabha member, struggled to hold back tears, while the air resonated with chants of “Ajit Dada amar rahe”.

Union ministers Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Murlidhar Mohol, former Union minister Sharad Pawar, who is Ajit Pawar’s uncle, and BJP president Nitin Nabin attended the 66-year-old Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief’s funeral.