Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday said the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will hold a legislature party meeting on January 31 to appoint Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, as its leader.
Speaking to reporters at the NCP office, Bhujbal said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated he has no objection to Sunetra Pawar’s oath-taking as deputy chief minister on Saturday itself, provided the legislature wing of the party formally takes a decision.
Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP and is not a member of either House of the Maharashtra legislature. However, the Baramati Assembly seat in Pune district has fallen vacant following Ajit Pawar’s death in a plane crash on Wednesday.
“The NCP legislature party meeting will be held on Saturday, where Sunetra Pawar will be named as its leader. Many leaders want her to take over as deputy chief minister,” Bhujbal said.
He added that filling the vacant post of legislature party leader was the immediate priority, after which the deputy CM’s position would be finalised.
Bhujbal also said senior NCP leaders Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare are examining technical aspects, including norms related to the mourning period. “Sometimes there is a three-day mourning period and sometimes ten days,” he said, adding that the final call would be taken at the legislature party meeting.
Earlier on Friday, NCP working president Praful Patel said a decision on filling the vacant deputy chief minister post and other cabinet portfolios would be taken soon.
After meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai, Patel said the final decision would be made after consultations with the Pawar family and party leaders, keeping public sentiment in mind.
“Ajit Dada was our leader and the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. We need to fill the position soon and have discussed this with the Chief Minister. A decision will be taken after speaking to the Pawar family and in line with public sentiment,” Patel said.
On whether Ajit Pawar’s wife could be considered for the deputy CM’s post, Patel said there was no opposition to her name but added that discussions were still ongoing.
The meeting with the Chief Minister, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, was attended by senior NCP leaders including Chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel, state party president Sunil Tatkare, and former minister Dhananjay Munde.
The developments come amid renewed political activity around a possible merger of the two NCP factions. A close associate of the Pawar family had said that Ajit Pawar’s last wish was to reunite the party, and talks between the two factions had already begun before his death.
Ajit Pawar, 66, popularly known as ‘Dada,’ was killed along with four others when the chartered aircraft carrying them crashed near the Baramati airstrip in Pune district on Wednesday morning. Also on Friday, his sons Parth and Jay collected his ashes at the Vidya Pratishthan ground in Baramati, a day after his last rites were performed with full state honours. Several senior leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Sharad Pawar, and actor Riteish Deshmukh, attended the funeral and paid their last respects.
