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She will be the first woman to hold the post of Deputy CM in the state, where the post was first created in 1978 when the era of coalition government began in Maharashtra.
Following the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in an air crash in Baramati on Wednesday, a section of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders had demanded that she be given the post held by her late husband in the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet.
Sources said her consent to accept the decision to nominate her as her husband’s successor has been conveyed to party leaders.
“Tomorrow (Saturday) there will be a parliamentary board meeting of the party in Mumbai, where Sunetra Pawar will be elected the leader of the NCP legislature party,” a source said.
A source privy to the development said, “It is likely that she will take oath as Deputy Chief Minister by tomorrow evening.”
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the BJP, which leads the ruling alliance Mahayuti, will support any decision taken by late Ajit Pawar’s family and the party.
The CM said, “NCP will take whatever decision it has to take for the post of Deputy Chief Minister and the government and BJP will support this decision. I can only tell you that we stand with Ajit Dada’s family and NCP.”
Till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar had kept a low profile. In the general election that year, she stood as her husband’s party’s candidate from Baramati, but lost to her sister-in-law and sitting NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule in the battle for prestige.
Sunetra Pawar was later elected to the Rajya Sabha.
State minister and senior party leader Chhagan Bhujbal had said in Mumbai earlier in the day that the NCP’s legislature wing will hold a meeting in Mumbai on January 31 where he will be named as its leader.
Bhujbal said Fadnavis had told that he had no problem with the swearing-in ceremony being held on Saturday, provided a decision to this effect (Sunetra Pawar was elected as the new leader of the NCP legislature party) was taken by the party.
“Many leaders want him to become the deputy CM,” Bhujbal told reporters.
After the death of Ajit Pawar, NCP’s strength came down to 40 in the 288-member assembly. The late leader was an MLA from Baramati assembly seat in Pune district.
Meanwhile, with the political developments happening rapidly in the NCP, the issue of a possible merger between the party and its rival faction NCP (SP), which is a constituent of the opposition group MVA, is likely to be put on the back burner for now.
NCP leaders stressed that the priority now was to fill the vacant posts of legislature party leader and deputy chief minister, both posts held by late Ajit Pawar.
He said the ball is now in the court of the Pawar family and NCP to decide on the reunification of the two groups.
A senior NCP (SP) leader said, “The merger is the need of the hour to create a stronger NCP and provide an effective political alternative. The talks have advanced quite far, but in the absence of Ajit Pawar, the question now is who will take the final decision.
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Apart from BJP and NCP, Shiv Sena is also included in the grand alliance.