Sunetra Pawar To Take Oath As Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister At 5 PM Tomorrow: NCP Sources

Last Updated:January 30, 2026, 19:53 IST

The development came amid the buzz over the merger of the two factions of the ist Congress Party (NCP) grew louder on Friday, with many calling it the leader’s "last wish".

Amid speculations of who will be the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a seat left vacant after the sudden death of Ajit Pawar in a plane crash on Wednesday, sources said that his wife, Sunetra Pawar, has agreed to take over the post.

The development came amid the buzz over the merger of the two factions of the ist Congress Party (NCP), which many called the leader’s “last wish".

NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare and Dhananjay Munde met CM Devendra Fadnavis at Varsha Bungalow on Friday. Ajit Pawar’s NCP is in alliance with CM Fadnavis-led BJP and Eknath Shinde’s Sena in the Maharashtra government. His uncle Sharad Pawar and cousin Supriya Sule’s NCP faction is in the opposition, with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.

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Talking to reporters at the NCP office, Bhujbal said Chief Minister Fadnavis has conveyed that he has no issues if her oath-taking ceremony as the deputy Chief Minister takes place on Saturday itself, provided a decision to that effect is taken by the legislature wing of the party.

Earlier in the day, Bhujbal on Friday said the legislative party meeting of the NCP will be held on January 31, where Sunetra Pawar will be named as its chief.

Talking to reporters at the NCP office here, Bhujbal said Fadnavis has conveyed that he has no issues if her oath-taking ceremony as the deputy CM takes place on Saturday itself provided a decision to that effect is taken by the legislature wing of the party.

Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP and 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 in a plane crash on Wednesday.

“(Senior NCP leaders) Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare are looking into the technicalities of the mourning period and other finer details…Sometimes, there is a three-day mourning period and sometimes ten days," the food and civil supplies minister said.

He, however, added that the final decision will be taken in the legislature party meeting.

Why Sunetra Pawar was the party’s preferred choice over Supriya Sule

A majority of leaders of the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) wanted Sunetra Pawar to become the Deputy Chief minister and lead the party.

There are many reasons for it:

A family-led party can’t have leadership outside the family.The NCP is a Maratha-based party, hence non-Maratha leaders like Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare will not be acceptable to cadre and leaders. If a non-Maratha face becomes the chief of party, there is a chance that the cadre may get disturbed, said sources.Sunetra Pawar is a Maratha face, and the immediate family of Ajit Pawar. For the past few years, she has been involved in the day-to-day affairs of the party.Sunetra has good ground connections in both sections of the NCP. So she can lead the NCP (United) in the future.

Will the two factions merge?

“It was the heartfelt wish of Ajit Pawar that both the NCP factions should merge at the earliest. Ajit Pawar had already started work in that direction. As he is not amongst us, we should go ahead with the merger…it was Ajit Pawar’s last wish," said Anil Deshmukh.

Ajit Pawar was keen on the merger of the two factions of the NCP, and it was about to happen soon, Kiran Gujar, who had been associated with Ajit Pawar since before his entry into politics in the mid-1980s, told PTI on Thursday.

“He was one hundred per cent keen on merging both the factions. He had told me five days ago that the entire process was complete and the merger was imminent in the next few days," Gujar said.

No doubt that merger was on the cards but due to the demise of Ajit Pawar, it has been delayed. Leaders from both factions of the NCP still respect Sharad Pawar. But the question is for how long can he lead, said sources. Sule does not have the full support of the MLAs, MPs from the both sections due to her working style, say sources.

News politics Sunetra Pawar To Take Oath As Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister At 5 PM Tomorrow: NCP Sources

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