At the NCP party offices, workers stood around in disbelief, breaking down in tears. Their leader — Ajit dada — was gone. When the news came that NCP chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has been killed in a plane crash on Wednesday, several workers and leaders rushed to party offices, while others head­ed to Baramati where the final rites will be conducted on Thursday. The refrain among party wokers was: “He was always approachable”. “Even if you had a very local issue, Dada would give you an audience,” says NCP’s Maharashtra general secretary, Surekha Pednekar, who was present at the party office in Raigad.