Sunetra Pawar sworn in Maharashtra’s first woman deputy chief minister

Sunetra Pawar, wife of deceased NCP president Ajit Pawar, was sworn in as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday, 31 January, after being elected the state NCP legislature party leader.

She was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a brief ceremony at the Lok Bhavan here. She has been allocated the Excise department.

The move comes three days after Ajit Pawar, who was the Deputy Chief Minister and also held the finance portfolio in the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti' government, died in an air crash in Baramati on January 28.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, NCP leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal were among those present at the ceremony.

Sunetra Pawar's younger son Jay Pawar and his wife were also present.

Sunetra, 62, has resigned as Rajya Sabha MP. She is not a member of either house of the state legislature, and is expected to contest the byelection to the Baramati assembly constituency represented by her late husband.

Coming from a political family, the low-profile Sunetra Pawar made her electoral debut in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, facing off against her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule, in Baramati, the home turf of the Pawar family.

Thrust into the spotlight from the shadows of one of the most powerful political families in Maharashtra, Sunetra Pawar’s elevation to the number 2 position in the BJP-led state cabinet will also mark the beginning of a new chapter for the NCP.

She now faces an uphill task of holding the NCP together and managing coalition politics while working with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. But her immediate challenge will be to decide whether to go ahead with the much-anticipated merger of the two NCP factions.

Hailing from Tera village in Dharashiv (formerly known as Osmanabad) in the Marathwada region, Sunetra comes from a political family, but wasn't actively involved in politics herself for much of her life. Padamsinh Patil, her brother, is a senior NCP leader.

The NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, split after Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government of the BJP and Shiv Sena in July 2023. He was appointed deputy CM, and continued to hold the same post in the subsequent Devendra Fadnavis-led government that came to power after the Mahayuti alliance won a landslide victory in the November 2024 assembly polls.

Earlier in the day today, Sharad Pawar claimed he had "no idea" about the swearing-in of Sunetra Pawar. Addressing a press conference in Baramati, he said, "We didn't know about the swearing-in. We found out about it through news reports. I have no idea about the swearing-in," he said.