Baramati (PTI): A memorial of late Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar will be set up on the premises of Vidya Pratishthan, the Baramati-based educational institution founded by the Pawar family, a close associate has said.

Ajit Pawar (66) and four others were killed in a plane crash near the airstrip at Baramati airport in Pune district on January 28.

Kiran Gujar, a close aide of Ajit Pawar and confidant of the Pawar family, on Sunday said the memorial has been planned on the Vidya Pratishthan premises where his last rites were performed.

"Today, Sharad Pawar saheb, before heading to Mumbai, visited the venue of the last rites along with Pratibha Pawar and instructed me, and the trustees of Vidya Pratishthan, to chalk out a plan for Ajit Dada's memorial," Gujar told PTI.

Discussions will be held with the trustees to finalise the design and structure of the memorial in the coming days, he added.

Ajit Pawar was a prominent political figure in Maharashtra and had played a key role in the development of Baramati, which has long been considered the Pawar family's political stronghold.

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New Delhi (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday embarked on a three-day visit to the US to attend a Washington-led ministerial meeting on critical minerals supply chain.

Jaishankar's visit assumes significance as it is being seen as an opportunity to address the sharp downturn in the relations between the two strategic partners.

It is expected that the minister will hold bilateral talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior officials of the Trump administration.

"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit the United States from February 2 to 5 to participate in the Critical Minerals Ministerial convened by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

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It said the ministerial will focus on supply chain resilience, clean energy transitions, and strategic cooperation in critical minerals.

"During the visit, the external affairs minister will also hold meetings with senior members of the US administration," it said.

India-US ties have been reeling under severe stress after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties, for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.

Apart from the tariff issue, the relations witnessed a downturn on a number of other issues that included Trump's claim of ending the India-Pakistan conflict in May last year and Washington's new immigration policy.