Mumbai: Just three days after the death of former Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar took oath as deputy Chief Minister Saturday evening, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the state. The 62-year-old is not, however, a member of either house of the legislature.
Earlier in the day, NCP (AP) leaders met at the Vidhan Bhawan and unanimously elected Sunetra leader of the legislative party. The proposal was tabled by senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seconded by other senior leaders Hassan Mushrif, Dhanajay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil, Narhari Zirwal and Sanjay Bansode. She has been given full rights from issuing whips to signing authority.
The next thing on the NCP (AP)’s agenda is deciding who will replace Ajit Pawar as national president of the party.
“In our meeting, we have decided to make Sunetra Tai our leader. Now we will do the future proceedings,” Bhujbal told the media after the meeting. Sunetra Pawar took oath at Lok Bhawan, formerly called Raj Bhawan.
However, it seems the extended family did not know about the oath-taking ceremony.
Earlier in the day, veteran Sharad Pawar told the media that he was unaware that Sunetra would be taking an oath, now was he consulted on the matter. He said the family was there to support each other emotionally but politics was a different matter.
“No, I was not aware of this. It is their party’s internal matter. Sunil Tatkare and Praful Patel must have taken the lead in this matter,” Sharad Pawar told the media.
However, he added that Ajit Pawar had wanted a reunification of both factions of NCP.
“Meetings were held between Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar for a possible merger. The process had started. We had decided to announce the merger decision on February 12. For the last four months, Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Shashikant Shinde were involved in the talks of merger. Now, an unfortunate accident has happened. It seems that the process will now be discontinued,” Pawar said.
After Sharad Pawar’s media admission that he was not aware about the swearing in, Ajit Pawar’s elder son Parth reportedly met Sharad Pawar. However, both were tight-lipped about what transpired at the meeting.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)