Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Praful Patel on Friday said a decision on filling the vacant post of Maharashtra deputy chief minister and other cabinet portfolios will be taken soon following the death of party chief Ajit Pawar in a plane crash.
After meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai, Patel told reporters that the decision would be finalised 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.
Responding to questions on whether Ajit Pawar’s wife and Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar could be considered for the deputy CM’s post, Patel said there was no opposition to her name but added that discussions were still underway. “I can comment only after speaking to her and holding consultations with party leaders,” he said.
The meeting with the Chief Minister, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, was attended by senior NCP leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Praful Patel, state party president Sunil Tatkare and former minister Dhananjay Munde. Sources said the leaders discussed the prevailing political situation in Maharashtra and deliberated on the party’s future course after Ajit Pawar’s sudden demise, though no official statement was issued.
The developments come amid renewed political activity around a possible merger of the two NCP factions. A close associate of the Pawar family said Ajit Pawar’s last wish was to reunite the party, and that talks between the two factions had already begun before his death. The two groups had jointly contested the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal elections and were also in discussions over an alliance for the upcoming Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar stirred controversy by alleging a conspiracy behind the plane crash, citing the timing of the incident amid ongoing reunification talks. He demanded a high-level investigation to establish the circumstances leading to the crash.
Ajit Pawar’s death has triggered fresh political churn in Maharashtra.
Earlier 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.
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.
