Sunetra Pawar, wife of late Nationalist Congress Party (AP) chief Ajit Pawar, took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra at a ceremony held at the Lok Bhavan in Mumbai on Saturday. She became the first woman to hold the post, previously held by Ajit Pawar, who tragically died in a plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
During the oath-taking ceremony, loud and zealous chants of "Ajit Dada Amar Rahe (long live Ajit Pawar)" filled the hall as hundreds of party workers and other office-bearers remembered their late leader.
Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as the Deputy CM a day after the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, an ally in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, unanimously elected her as the leader of its Legislature Party.
Hours later, she accepted the proposal for her elevation. Apart from taking the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister's office, Sunetra Pawar will continue to hold the Excise and Sports portfolios in the state government.
According to party sources, the Finance portfolio, which was previously held by Ajit Pawar, will temporarily remain with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the Budget session is scheduled for March. The department is expected to be allocated to the NCP at a later stage.
Sunetra Pawar was born in 1963 in the erstwhile Osmanabad district, now known as Dharashiv, into a Maratha family with a strong political legacy.
Her father, Bajirao Patil, and her brother, Padamsinh Bajirao Patil, were influential leaders in the region. Padamsinh, a former Maharashtra Cabinet minister and ex-Osmanabad Lok Sabha MP, was also among the founding members of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and shared close ties with Sharad Pawar.
Despite being surrounded by politics from an early age, Sunetra remained hesitant to enter the political arena. She pursued her education and completed a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from SB Arts and Commerce College in Aurangabad in 1983.
In 1985, she met Ajit Pawar through her brother, and the two married the same year.
However, Sunetra chose to stay away from active politics for years, instead building her own identity through social work and community initiatives in Baramati.
