Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and late Ajit Pawar’swife Sunetra Pawar is reportedly set to take oath as Maharashtra new deputy chief minister tomorrow. The development comes three days after the post was left vacant following the 66-year-old’s death in a crash in Baramati on Wednesday.
NCP will hold a legislature party meeting tomorrow in the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai at 2 pm tomorrow to finalise Sunetra Pawar’s position as the party legislature leader. It is learnt that at the meeting, the 63-year-old’s name will be finalised as Deputy CM.
If finalised, Sunetra will become the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of the state. Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP and not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature.
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Sunetra Pawar to take oath on Saturday
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, while talking to reporters at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) office, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has conveyed that he has no issues if Sunetra oath-taking ceremony as the deputy CM takes place on Saturday itself provided a decision to that effect is taken by the legislature wing of the party.
“When someone passes away, sometimes people observe a period of mourning for three days, sometimes ten days or something like that, I don’t know. Tatkare and Praful Bhai themselves are looking into it. Most likely, the decision will come in an hour or two,” he added.
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Bhujbal on party leaders backing Sunetra Pawar
Many people believe that Sunetra Pawar should be given this responsibility, and I don’t think that demand is unreasonable,” Bhujbal said.
“The currently vacant Deputy Chief Minister’s post can be filled by Sunetra ji, and our focus is on this. Things will happen as the people wish. Tomorrow’s meeting is primarily to elect the legislature party leader,” he added.
Former deputy CM of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar died on Wednesday morning after the aircraft carrying him crashed while attempting to land at Baramati airport in Pune district.
The plane crash-landed near the runway threshold, killing all five people |
