Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday suggested a murder conspiracy after the death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash, but the Maharashtra leader’s uncle, Sharad Pawar, snubbed the Bengal chief minister, saying there was “no politics” in the “accident”.

“Even political leaders are not safe in this country, let alone common people. A couple of days ago, I had heard someone from another party (Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut) who issued a statement that (Ajit) Pawar was willing to quit the (partnership of the) the BJP. Now this has happened,” said the Bengal chief minister who met journalists briefly to issue her statement of “deep shock” over the air crash that killed the Maharashtra deputy chief minister at Baramati.

“I demand a proper investigation under the supervision of the Supreme Court. We have trust left only in the Supreme Court. No other agency. All agencies have been completely compromised,” she added.

Mamata said the 66-year-old NCP president’s demise was a truly great loss.

“... tomorrow he was supposed to return to the original course of his party. My condolences to his family, the people of Maharashtra, and to Sharad Pawar,” she said, shortly after it was conveyed to journalists by Nabanna, the state secretariat, that her trip to Delhi to protest against the SIR was deferred.

The chief minister was scheduled to leave for Delhi soon after a rally at Singur on Wednesday.

Sources said the trip had been cancelled largely because politicians would be away in Maharashtra for the next couple of days because of Ajit Pawar’s death.

In the evening, Trinamool sources said Mamata’s office received an email from Nirvachan Sadan to meet the chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, there at 4pm on Monday. Her schedule, said the sources, was being redrawn, and the presentation of the state budget (which was supposed to take place on Monday) was likely to be rescheduled.

On the Ajit Pawar murder conspiracy theory, Mamata found endorsement from the chiefs of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party.

Asked about the Trinamool Congress chairperson’s demand, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said there should be an investigation.

“Everyone, all leaders, keep travelling for urgent work. But in so many instances, we saw in Ahmedabad how a big plane crashed. This was a small plane; why did this happen? It should be probed. We also demand a probe,” said the Congress president.

Akhilesh Yadav said her demand was justified.

“She must have made a justified demand.... Earlier as well, many VIPs similarly lost their lives, so there should be an impartial probe so it can be known what the reason for the accident was,” said the national president of the Samajwadi Party.

Several others from the non-NDA space, such as Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai, echoed Mamata’s demand for a thorough probe.

But the NCP (SP) president and Ajit’s uncle-cum-political opponent, Sharad Pawar, rejected the possibility of any sabotage in the plane crash.

“A stand was floated from Calcutta that there is some politics involved in this incident. But there is nothing like this. There is no politics in it. It was an accident. I request not to bring politics into it,” said the 85-year-old.