Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar was on Thursday unanimously elected national president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in place of her late husband Ajit Pawar, at a meeting of the party’s national executive.
Sunetra Pawar, 62, is the third national president of the party after Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar and the first woman president of the party. She assumed the presidency of the party after her husband died in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28.
The move assumes significance against the backdrop of the push by Sharad Pawar-led NCP to merge the two factions of the NCP. The party founded by Sharad Pawar split in June 2023 after Ajit Pawar rebelled with majority party MLAs and later took over.
With her elevation, Pawar completed the process of taking control of the party after she became the head of the NCP’s legislative unit and was then sworn in as deputy chief minister last month.
Her name was suggested by the party’s working president Praful Patel at the National Executive Committee meeting. All delegates present from across the country expressed their support by raising their hands. “I declare Sunetra Ajit Pawar as the new NCP,” Patel announced at NSCI Dome Worli.
It was seconded by Maharashtra National Party president Sunil Tatkare. Pawar expressed her gratitude by holding her hands together.
“We have suffered irreparable damage but taking inspiration from Ajit Dada we must move forward. I am sure we will be able to achieve the same success in leading Sunetra ‘Vahini’ (fondly used for sister-in-law in Marathi) that we were about to achieve in leading Ajit Dada (Pawar),” Patel said.
On January 28, NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash.
To officially nominate her for the post, the party’s core committee met at her official residence ‘Divgiri’ on Wednesday. Working president Praful Patel, state president Tatkare and Pawar itself were part of the core committee meeting. Later, senior leaders like Hassan Musharraf, Shajan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Wallace Patel and her two sons – Parth and Jay – were also present at the meeting, an NCP leader said.
