MUMBAI: Sunetra Pawar, the wife of late NCP chief and Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar, on Saturday took oath as the state’s first woman deputy chief minister, replacing her deceased husband. She was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Maharashtra Governor Acharya Devvrat in a low-key ceremony at Lok Bhavan.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and NCP leaders, including Prafull Patel and others, attended the ceremony.
The development comes just days after the sudden demise of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash. Pawar, who was the deputy CM of Maharashtra, died on Wednesday morning along with four others after his charter plane crashed while landing at Baramati airport.
Earlier today, Sunetra was elected the leader of NCP legislative party following the legislative party meeting at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. The meeting was attended by all the NCP MLAs and MLCs.
NCP leaders, including Party Working President Praful Patel and State President Sunil Tatkare, met at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai to propose Sunetra Pawar’s name for the post and she was elected unanimously.
Sunetra currently holds the post of Rajya Sabha MP. She will be required to relinquish the post and become a member of either the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly or the Maharashtra Legislative Council within six months.
According to the reports, the post of Rajya Sabha MP that she will vacate may go to one of her sons Parth and Jay Pawar.
Ajit Pawar had held four portfolios- Finance and Planning, State Excise, Sports and Minority Affairs. However, Sunetra will only get three of them as Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to keep Finance and Planning, the reports said.
Fadnavis is also expected to present the state budget in the Assembly next month.
Ajit Pawar’s demise pushes NCP merger talks into uncertainty
The untimely demise of Ajit Pawar has pushed the NCP merger talks into uncertainty. According to NCP-Sharad Pawar faction leaders, Ajit Pawar was in talks with his uncle Sharad Pawar as he wanted to merge both the parties.
A decision had reportedly been taken and final announcement was to be made on February 12 but Ajit Pawar’s demise has put the process on hold.
NCP and NCP (SCP) contested the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections in an alliance, and there were talks of an alliance for the upcoming Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls.
Amid the speculations, Sharad Pawar today clarified that while the talks were happening, he was not directly involved in the negotiations, and they were led by NCP chief Ajit Pawar and NCP(SP) leader Jayant Patil.
When asked whether he would consider joining the NDA if both factions of the NCP merge, Sharad Pawar told reporters, “This is all going on your side (media), there is nothing like that here.”
“It was Ajit Dada’s wish that both NCPs should come together, and it was our wish as well,” the senior Pawar added.
Agencies