Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra on Saturday from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) quota, just days after the death of her husband, senior leader Ajit Pawar, in a plane crash.
Dressed in a white saree, Sunetra Pawar took the oath amid emotional scenes, with supporters raising slogans of “Ajit dada amar rahe” during the ceremony.
The oath was administered by Maharashtra Governor Acharya Devvrat at his official residence in Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were present.
Sunetra Pawar will assume all the ministerial portfolios previously handled by Ajit Pawar, with the exception of the finance department. Her elevation came hours after she was unanimously chosen as leader of the NCP legislative party.
A day earlier, a senior NCP delegation met Chief Minister Fadnavis to discuss leadership continuity following Ajit Pawar’s sudden death. The meeting focused on the appointment of the legislative party leader and the deputy chief minister to address the vacuum created within both the party and the MahaYuti government.
The delegation included NCP working president Praful Patel, state unit chief Sunil Tatkare, ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Hasan Mushrif, as well as former minister Dhananjay Munde.
Meanwhile, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said he was not consulted on Sunetra Pawar’s appointment.
“I have had no discussion with Sunetra Pawar regarding this. I only learned about the swearing-in ceremony through the media,” he told reporters at a press conference on Saturday.
Ajit Pawar died on Wednesday when the aircraft he was travelling in crashed while attempting to land at the Baramati airfield. His personal security officer and three cabin crew members were also killed in the accident.
The crash took place at around 8.48 am. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau have sent investigation teams to the site to determine the cause of the mishap.
Ajit Pawar was the longest-serving deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, having held the post non-consecutively for six terms. Over the years, he served as deputy chief minister under governments led by Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
