Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra takes oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister

At a ceremony on Saturday at Mumbai’s Lok Bhavan, Sunetra Pawar, the late Nationalist Congress Party (AP) chief Ajit Pawar’s wife, was sworn in as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister. Ajit Pawar, who sadly perished in a plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday, held the position before her, making her the first woman to do so.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were present when Governor Acharya Devvrat delivered the oath. “Ajit Dada Amar Rahe (long live Ajit Pawar)” was chanted loudly and fervently during the oath-taking ceremony as hundreds of party employees and other office-bearers paid tribute to their late leader. On X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sunetra Pawar and wished her well in her new position as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

“Best wishes to Sunetra Pawar Ji as she begins her tenure as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the first woman to hold this responsibility. I am confident she will work tirelessly for the welfare of the people of the state and fulfil the vision of the late Ajitdada Pawar,” he wrote.

A day after the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, an ally of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, unanimously elected Sunetra Pawar as its Legislature Party leader, she took the oath of office as Deputy Chief Minister. She agreed to the request for her promotion a few hours later. Sunetra Pawar will continue to serve in the state government’s Excise and Sports departments in addition to assuming the role of Deputy Chief Minister for Maharashtra.

Party insiders claim that since the Budget session is set for March, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will temporarily hold the Finance post, which was formerly held by Ajit Pawar. It is anticipated that the department will eventually be assigned to the NCP.

Ajit Pawar passed away after his private jet crashed in Baramati on Wednesday, January 28, leaving one of the two deputy chief minister positions in Maharashtra unfilled.  The incident occurred while the hired aircraft was attempting a second emergency landing at Baramati airport, killing the two pilots as well as Ajit’s two security men (one PSO and one attendant).

Ajit Pawar, who was born in Baramati and climbed through the political ranks from the same constituency, died in Baramati itself in what appears to be a tragic turn of events. As part of the campaign for the next Zilla Parishad elections, he came in town to speak at four public gatherings. In 1963, Sunetra Pawar was born into a Maratha family with a long political history in what was then Osmanabad district, today known as Dharashiv.

Both her brother, Padamsinh Bajirao Patil, and father, Bajirao Patil, were powerful figures in the area. Former Osmanabad Lok Sabha MP and Maharashtra Cabinet minister Padamsinh was close to Sharad Pawar and one of the original members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).  Even though Sunetra was surrounded by politics from a young age, she was nevertheless reluctant to get involved in politics. In 1983, she finished her studies and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from SB Arts and Commerce College in Aurangabad.