MUMBAI: Sunetra Pawar, 62, was elected as the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) legislative party at a party meeting at the Vidhan Bhavan on Saturday, clearing the decks for being sworn in as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister later in the evening.
Sunetra, currently a Rajya Sabha member, succeeds her late husband, Ajit Pawar, who died in a tragic plane crash on January 28 morning.
Sunetra arrived at the Vidhan Bhavan complex with her younger son, Jay Pawar, on Saturday afternoon and paid floral tributes to a portrait of her husband before the legislative party meeting began in the chamber used by Ajit Pawar.
NCP working president Praful Patel and state president Sunil Tatkare were also present at the meeting, which was attended by 38 of NCP’s 40 members of the legislative assembly (MLA) and 7 of its 8 members of the legislative council (MLC).
Two MLAs, Dharamraobaba Atram and Daulat Daroda, were unable to attend the meeting. Atram is abroad while Daulat Daroda’s nephew died yesterday. Also, one MLC, Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, missed the meeting due to illness.
Her name was proposed by senior NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal and was seconded by several senior party leaders, such as Dilip Walse Patil and Hasan Mushrif.
The governor’s office has confirmed that Sunetra Pawar’s swearing-in ceremony as deputy chief minister would be held at 5 pm in Mumbai.
Hours before the NCP legislators gathered at Vidhan Bhavan, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar questioned the haste with which the meeting had been called. Asked if anyone from the Pawar family would attend the oath ceremony, Sharad Pawar said, “We didn’t know about the swearing-in. We found out about it through news reports. I have no idea about the swearing-in.”
The veteran politician also said Ajit Pawar and NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil had been in talks for four months to merge the two factions. Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil said he and Ajit Pawar had finalised all merger details and decided to announce it on February 12.
Sunetra unsuccessfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Baramati, losing to her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP, Supriya Sule, in a prestige battle. She later entered the Rajya Sabha on June 18 2024.
Her husband, Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in a plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday morning. He was in a mid-size business jet that took off at 8.10am from Mumbai for his home bastion of Baramati to address rallies for upcoming rural body polls. Thirteen minutes later, the Learjet 45 aircraft began its descent but aborted the first landing after the pilot couldn’t see the runway. After circling back, pilots confirmed a second landing attempt at 8.43am but a minute later, the air traffic control saw flames near the runway as the aircraft veered off course and crashed.
His ashes were immersed at the confluence of Neera and Karha rivers near Baramati by his sons Parth and Jay on Friday. Sunetra Pawar, Supriya Sule and other family members were present at the occasion.