Pune, Feb. 1 -- On a hazy evening in Mumbai, the political climate appeared charged as Ajit Pawar's widow Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as Maharashtra's deputy chief minister, catapulting her from the periphery of power to its very centre. In a state that has had a long history of prominent and powerful women in the social arena, women politicians in consequential positions have been conspicuously missing. On Saturday, Sunetra Pawar breached a glass ceiling when she became the state's first woman deputy chief minister. The 62-year-old Sunetra's rise is not merely an administrative development, it's a clear signal within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) about who carries Ajit Pawar's legacy. It's also significant in the context of the unresolved struggle for control over Baramati, the citadel that has defined the Pawars' dominance for six decades. For decades, Sunetra was seen as the unobtrusive presence beside one of Maharashtra's most combative politicians. But, those who have watched her closely insist she was never a reluctant participant in public life. Ambitious, politically savvy and acutely aware of the calculus of power, she remained in the shadows largely because Ajit occupied every inch of political space around him. Educated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from SB College in Aurangabad, Sunetramarried Ajit in 1985, and it was only as late as 2008 that she started taking an active public role in Baramati....