Janjivan Bureau / MUMBAI: NCP’s Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar will be sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, replacing her deceased husband and party chief Ajit Pawar, at the Lok Bhavan here at 5 pm on Saturday. Sunetra Pawar was unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party in Maharashtra on Saturday, three days after the death of her husband and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.She is set to take oath as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of the state later in the day.Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan) gave this information.
Governor Acharya Devvrat, who is currently in Mussoorie, will arrive in Mumbai at 4 pm, it said.
NCP’s legislature party meeting is scheduled to take place in the city at 2 pm, where Sunetra Pawar is set to be named as its leader. After that she will take oath as the first woman deputy CM of the state.
She held talks with party leaders after arriving here from Baramati early morning on Saturday.
Ajit Pawar, who was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, was killed in a plane crash in Baramati along with four others on January 28.
Sunetra Pawar paid floral tributes to a portrait of her late husband in the meeting hall. Their younger son Jay was also present.
Many ministers and legislators were teary-eyed when they entered the Vidhan Bhavan complex.
The Lok Bhavan has confirmed that the swearing-in ceremony of Sunetra Pawar as the state deputy CM will be held at 5 pm in Mumbai.
Until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar had kept a low profile. In the Lok Sabha elections that year, she contested from Baramati as the candidate of her husband’s party, but was defeated by her sister-in-law and incumbent NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in the prestige battle.
