Sunetra Pawar becomes first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as Maharashtra’s first woman Deputy Chief Minister on Saturday, days after the death of her husband Ajit Pawar. She now faces the challenge of steering the NCP and managing coalition dynamics

Mumbai: Sunetra Pawar, wife of deceased NCP president Ajit Pawar, was on Saturday sworn in as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The 62-year-old Pawar, who has resigned as Rajya Sabha MP, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a brief ceremony at the Lok Bhavan here.

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Earlier in the day, she was elected as the State NCP legislature party leader.

Ajit Pawar, who held the Deputy Chief Minister’s post as well as the finance portfolio in the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ government, died in an air crash in Baramati on January 28.

Slogans like ” Ajit dada Amar Rahe” (Ajit dada is immortal) were raised as Sunetra Pawar rose to take the oath.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, NCP leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal, among others, were present at the ceremony. Sunetra Pawar’s younger son Jay Pawar and his wife were also present.

She is not a member of either House of the State legislature, and is expected to contest the byelection to the Baramati Assembly constituency represented by her late husband.

Coming from a political family, the low-profile Sunetra Pawar made her electoral debut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, facing off against her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, in Baramati, the home turf of the Pawar family.

After losing to Sule, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha.

She now faces an uphill task of holding the NCP together and managing coalition politics while working with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. But her immediate challenge will be to decide whether to go ahead with the much-anticipated merger of the two NCP factions.