Sunetra Pawar elected NCP legislature party leader

Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar was unanimously elected leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislature party in Maharashtra on Saturday, just three days after the death of her husband and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. She is set to take oath later today as the state’s first woman deputy chief minister.

Her name was proposed by senior NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil and seconded by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal during a meeting of the party’s legislature wing held at Ajit Pawar’s office in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai.

Ajit Pawar, who served as deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28 along with four others.

At the meeting, Sunetra Pawar paid floral tributes to a portrait of her late husband. Their younger son, Jay, was also present. Several ministers and legislators were seen emotional as they arrived at the Vidhan Bhavan complex.

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The Lok Bhavan later confirmed that Sunetra Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony as deputy chief minister will take place at 5 pm in Mumbai.

Until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar had largely stayed away from active politics. She contested the Baramati seat that year as the NCP candidate but lost to her sister-in-law, Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP). She was later elected to the Rajya Sabha.