Sunetra Pawar, wife of late NCP president Ajit Pawar, was sworn in as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday.
Sixty-two-year-old Pawar, who resigned as a Rajya Sabha MP, was administered the oath of office by Governor Acharya Devvrat in a brief ceremony at the Lok Bhavan.
Soon after being sworn in, Sunetra was assigned State Excise, Sports and Youth Welfare, Minority Development and Aukaf Department. Late Ajit Pawar held all these ministries and Financebefore his untimely death in a plane crash on January 28.
I am determined to uphold my late husband’s legacy.
The portfolios of planning and finance, which were allotted, are now held by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, according to news agency ANI.
Earlier in the day, she was elected as the state NCP legislative party leader.
Ajit Pawar who held Position of Deputy Minister as well as the finance portfolio in the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government “Mahayuti” was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on 28 January.
Prime minister Narendra Modi wished Sunetra Pawar all the best.
“I am confident that he will work tirelessly for the welfare of the people of the state and fulfill the vision of late Ajitdad Pawar,” the Prime Minister said in a post on X.
He is not a member of any house
Sunetra is not a member of either house of the state legislature and is expected to contest the by-election to the Baramati constituency represented by her late husband.
Sunetra Pawar made her debut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, pitting her sister-in-law and sitting NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in Baramati, the home turf of the Pawar family. After losing to Sule, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha.
