Sunetra Pawar set to become Maharashtra’s first woman deputy CM

Sunetra Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and wife of Ajit Pawar, is likely to take oath as the new Maharashtra deputy chief minister Saturday, sources said. The development comes two days after the post fell vacant following the 66-year-old leader’s death in a plane crash in his hometown, Baramati, on Wednesday.
The party will hold a legislature party meeting at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on Saturday at 2 p.m. to finalise her name. This will be followed by a swearing-in ceremony in the evening, the sources said. Upon taking the oath, she will become the state’s first woman Deputy Chief Minister.
This follows remarks by Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who indicated that Sunetra Pawar is the frontrunner to assume her husband’s former role.
“Many people believe that Sunetra Pawar should be given this responsibility, and I don’t think that demand is unreasonable,” Bhujbal said. Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP and not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature. NCP working president Praful Patel noted there was no opposition within the party to her appointment.
Meanwhile, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the government would respect the NCP’s internal decision. “The decision will be taken by the NCP, and we will stand by it… Be it the NCP or the Pawar family, we as the government and the BJP stand strongly with them,” Fadnavis said.