Mumbai: Following the sudden death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash Wednesday, senior leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP want the late leader’s wife, Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar to take his place as deputy CM and as the party’s leader in the legislature as soon as possible.
If things fall in place, the leaders are even willing to facilitate Sunetra Pawar’s swearing-in as deputy chief minister in the government on Saturday, Chhagan Bhujbal, senior minister from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP told reporters in Mumbai Friday.
“Senior leaders of the party—Praful bhai (Praful Patel), Tatkare-ji (Sunil Tatkare), me, Dhananjay Munde, we had tentatively decided to hold a meeting of the legislative party and finalise the name of Sunetra tai as the legislative party leader,” Bhujbal told reporters.
He, however, added that a letter for the legislative party meeting has not been issued yet as there are some “technical reasons”.
“After a death, there are some restrictions on stepping out for the immediate family, whether it is three days or ten days, I don’t know. Praful bhai and Tatkare-ji are looking into it,” Bhujbal said.
Earlier in the day, Bhujbal, Tatkare, Patel and Munde met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the CM’s official residence, Varsha, to discuss the post of deputy CM that Ajit Pawar held, the finance portfolio, which also he held, and another cabinet berth that was held by NCP Minister Manikrao Kokate till December last year. Kokate had to resign after a Nashik court upheld his conviction in a 1995 case.
“We had gone to meet the CM. We met him yesterday as well. Tentatively, whether everything can happen tomorrow, swearing-in and other things, the CM said he had no problem. But there are some restrictions on the family stepping out,” Bhujbal said.
Sunetra Pawar was a political novice till 2024 when she contested the Lok Sabha election from Baramati against sister-in-law Supriya Sule, who contested from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. Sunetra lost the election against incumbent Sule. Sunetra was later accommodated as a Rajya Sabha member.
While Bhujbal mentioned that Sunetra Pawar was tentatively the choice of all senior leaders, and that there had been demands from the party’s rank and file too for her to step up, Tatkare and Patel maintained a more cautious stance.
Speaking to reporters right after meeting the CM, Patel said their priority is to fill the empty seat of the deputy CM and the legislative party leader at the earliest and they had met the CM to communicate the same.
“There is no one opposing Sunetra Pawar-ji’s name, but it is better I talk about it after we have spoken to her and the family,” Patel said.
A little later, speaking to reporters at the NCP headquarters in Mumbai, Tatkare said, “Sunetra vahini (sister-in-law) and family are caught up with religious ceremonies. Once that is done, we will discuss with them and decide as per what is there in their minds, the minds of the people and our MLAs. It is only ethical that we speak to vahini and the family first.”
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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