NCP’s Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar will be sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, replacing her deceased husband and party chief Ajit Pawar, at the Lok Bhavan in Mumbai at 5 pm on Saturday.
She will take the oath as the first woman deputy CM of the state.
MP Sunetra Pawar was on Saturday elected by NCP legislators as the leader of the party’s legislature group, making her the party’s nominee for the deputy chief minister post in the Mahayuti government. Her nomination was proposed by senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seconded by other senior leaders, and she was unanimously elected.
She held talks with party leaders after arriving in Mumbai from Baramati early morning on Saturday.
Ajit Pawar, who was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, was killed in a plane crash in Baramati along with four others on January 28.
Party functionaries indicated that the swearing-in ceremony is likely to be a low-key event at Lok Bhavan around 5 pm. Governor Acharya Devvrat, who is currently in Mussoorie, will arrive in Mumbai at 4 pm.
Sunetra Pawar entered the Rajya Sabha on June 18, 2024, after an unsuccessful bid in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. She is currently not a member of the Maharashtra legislature, which means she will need to either win a bypoll or enter the Legislative Council within the stipulated period. The Baramati assembly seat, earlier represented by Ajit Pawar, is also due for a bypoll within six months.
NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that Ajit Pawar had been actively working toward a merger of the two NCP factions and had even proposed February 12 as the tentative date for reunification.
