Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar and a Rajya Sabha member, is scheduled to take oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday. Ahead of the oath-taking, she arrived in Mumbai on Saturday morning with her son Parth Pawar and visited ‘Devgiri’, the official residence of her late husband in south Mumbai.
Ajit Pawar died on January 28 in a plane crash near Baramati. Following his death, the NCP decided to nominate Sunetra Pawar for the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Sunetra Pawar, aged 62, is not currently a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly or the Legislative Council. An NCP legislature party meeting is scheduled to be held in Mumbai on Saturday afternoon, where she will be formally elected as the leader of the party’s विधायक दल. She is expected to take oath as Deputy Chief Minister later in the evening.
Senior NCP leader and Cabinet Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that all party legislators support the decision and that Sunetra Pawar will be elected leader unanimously.
Sources associated with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) and the Pawar family said they had no prior information about the decision. According to the sources, Sharad Pawar and members of his family were unaware of the move.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the NCP is free to take its own decision regarding the Deputy Chief Minister’s post and that the Bharatiya Janata Party will support it. Speaking to the media in Nagpur, he said the Mahayuti government stands with Ajit Pawar’s family and the NCP and will back whatever decision the party takes.
Sunetra Pawar had largely remained away from active politics earlier. She contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Baramati constituency, where she was defeated by her sister-in-law and NCP–SP MP Supriya Sule. She was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha, marking her entry into Parliament.
