MUMBAI/PUNE, Jan. 30 -- Sunetra Pawar, Rajya Sabha MP and the wife of former NCP chief Ajit Pawar who died in an air crash on Wednesday, is most likely to take oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, on Saturday, sources said. She has accepted the proposal for her elevation and will continue to hold the Excise and Sports ministries in the state government, sources said.

She would be the first woman to hold the post in the state. Ajit Pawar, 66, died on Wednesday morning after the aircraft carrying him crashed while attempting to land at Baramati airport in Pune district. The plane crash-landed near the runway threshold, killing all five people on board the chartered plane. Among the deceased were his personal security officer, a flight attendant and two pilots.

Following Ajit Pawar's death, a section of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders had demanded that she should get the post.

"A parliamentary board meeting of the party will take place in Mumbai on Saturday, where Sunetra Pawar will be elected as the leader of the legislature party," said a source.

According to sources, senior party leaders proposed her appointment as Deputy Chief Minister to set the party's direction ahead of the Pune Zilla Parishad elections scheduled for February 7.

Until the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar kept a low profile. In the general elections that year, she contested 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. Sunetra was subsequently elected to the Rajya Sabha.

The legislature wing of the NCP in Maharashtra will hold a meeting in Mumbai on January 31 where she would be named as its leader, state minister and senior party leader Chhagan Bhujbal said earlier on Friday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had conveyed that he had no issue if her swearing-in ceremony as Deputy CM took place on Saturday itself, provided a decision to that effect was taken by the party, said Bhujbal.

Sunetra Pawar is currently not a member of either House of the Maharashtra legislature. However, the Baramati assembly seat in Pune district has fallen vacant after Ajit Pawar's death.

NCP's tally in the 288-member state assembly came down to 40 with Ajit Pawar's death.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.