Sunetra Pawar, Maharashtra's 1st Woman Deputy Chief Minister, Heads 3 Ministries

Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, took oath as Maharashtra's first woman Deputy Chief Minister today, days after her husband and four others died in a plane crash in Baramati. She has been given charge of excise duty, sports and youth welfare, and minorities development. Finance and planning, the portfolios handled by her husband, will be handled by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Sunetra Pawar, 62, was unanimously elected as the NCP Legislature Party leader earlier today. Her name was proposed by party leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seconded by Dilip Patil and a host of other MLAs. A letter informing of this decision was sent to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who then forwarded it to Governor Acharya Devvrat.

Soon after she took oath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his best wishes to her.

Best wishes to Sunetra Pawar Ji as she begins her tenure as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the first woman to hold this responsibility. I am confident she will work tirelessly for the welfare of the people of the state and fulfil the vision of the late Ajitdada Pawar....

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 31, 2026

Rohit Pawar, MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed and a relative of Sunetra Pawar, in a post on X said that while no one can take the place of "Ajit dada", "at least in the form of Sunetrabai, we can see Ajit dada there somehow."

"With a mountain of grief weighing on our heads and all of us immersed in mourning, we don't even know how to offer them congratulations," he said.

All eyes are now on the direction that the NCP reunification talks would go.

Ajit Pawar's uncle Sharad Pawar said he didn't know about the election of Sunetra Pawar as the legislature party leader and appointment as deputy chief minister. Following this, Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar and NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar met him and briefed him about the developments.

Sharad Pawar then clarified the reunification talks are happening, but he is not directly involved in the negotiations. It was between Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil, he said.

Political Journey

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 late husband's party, but was defeated by her sister-in-law and NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule in the prestige battle.

Sunetra Pawar was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha.

The move to appoint Sunetra Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister was communicated to her within hours of Ajit Pawar's death on Wednesday, sources told NDTV.

Top leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP were not keen on the proposed merger as they felt it would lead to a resurgence of Sharad Pawar's supremacy within the NCP. Instead, they wanted Sunetra Pawar to be officially seen as Ajit Pawar's political heir.

Top leaders of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP were not keen on the proposed merger as they felt it would lead to a resurgence of Sharad Pawar's supremacy within the NCP. Instead, they wanted Sunetra Pawar to be officially seen as Ajit Pawar's political heir.

The Ajit Pawar camp was anticipating that with Ajit Pawar's death, the Sharad Pawar group may push for the merger to ensure that the leadership of the NCP remains within Sharad Pawar's control.

Sources told NDTV it was indicated to Sunetra Pawar that she would have to come forward and lead within a few hours of the tragedy. As top leaders of the state rushed to Baramati to grieve the death of the NCP leader, the political realities that had emerged in the tragic circumstances were communicated to Ajit Pawar's immediate family.

Even as the family was grieving it was clear that the political moves to install Sunetra Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister were already underway.