THE SHOW MUST go on.
That, apparently, was the feeling of the top three leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party—Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal—when they decided that Sunetra Pawar should succeed her late husband, Ajit Pawar, as Maharashtra deputy chief minister.
Sunetra, 62, hails from an influential Maratha family in Marathwada. Her father, Bajirao Patil, was a senior Congress leader in Dharashiv district (formerly Osmanabad). Bajirao’s elder son, Dr Padmasinh Patil, rose through the political ranks with Ajit, and later became minister holding important portfolios such as home and energy. Padmasinh played a key role in Sunetra marrying Ajit in 1985 soon after she graduated in commerce from a college in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad).
Sunetra has been active in Baramati’s social life since she joined the Pawar family. She led the 2006 initiative to end open defecation in Katewadi village, home to the Pawar clan. Her work earned Katewadi many state and national awards. She also solved the water scarcity problem in Baramati taluka by making streams in the region deeper, and set up an environmental action group when taking up environmental issues was considered an elitist preoccupation. She helped set up a high-tech textile park in Baramati, which now employs more than 5,000 women, and was president of the Maharashtra State Agri and Rural Tourism Cooperative Federation.
Sunetra’s political entry in 2024 was marred by controversy. After Ajit split the NCP and joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, he fielded Sunetra in Baramati against his cousin Supriya Sule in the Lok Sabha polls. After she was defeated, the NCP nominated her to the Rajya Sabha. As an MP, Sunetra raised issues related to anganwadi workers, river pollution, rural development and city development plans for Pune. Sunetra was also member of the Union government’s textile advisory committee, which was tasked with solving sectoral issues and improving working conditions and export capabilities. She has now resigned as MP to become deputy chief minister.
Sunetra’s nascent political journey may not offer many interesting tales, but her elevation as deputy chief minister within three days of her husband’s death provides a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the both the NCP and the Pawar family. After Sunetra gave her consent, the trio of Tatkare, Patel and Bhujbal met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on January 30 and informed him of the decision to appoint her as the leader of the NCP’s legislative party. They said party legislators would meet on January 31 to adopt the resolution approving her elevation, and conveyed the party’s wish to make her deputy chief minister.
On the night of the meeting with Fadnavis, Sunetra and her younger son Jay Pawar left for Mumbai. Sharad Pawar, the family patriarch, was reportedly unaware of the moves. The responsibility of informing him of the developments on January 31 was given to Sunetra’s elder son Parth Pawar. After news of Sunetra’s swearing in reached Sharad Pawar, he told journalists that the NCP under Patel and Tatkare had taken the decision under pressure. He did not name the BJP.
Around the same time, Sharad Pawar loyalist Jayant Patil revealed details of the meetings he had with Ajit Pawar over what he described as reunification plans. “Ajit dada came to my home 8-10 times. He would come in the evening, discuss the coming together over dinner, and then leave. He wished to bring the two parties together in the presence of Pawar saheb,” said Patil.
According to him, a similar meeting at his residence had other senior leaders of the Sharad Pawar faction such as Shashikant Shinde, Amol Kolhe and Harshvardhan Patil taking part. “That day, we decided to fight the zilla parishad polls together, and then make the merger announcement on February 12,” said Jayant Patil.
Sunetra’s swearing-in ceremony was noted for the absence of Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, since there had been a buzz for months about NCP reunification. Apparently, the agreement had been that Sharad Pawar would remain party chief even after he retired from the Rajya Sabha in April, Ajit would handle state party affairs, and Sule would join the Union cabinet. A source close to Ajit had said earlier that Union Home Minister Amit Shah was initially reluctant to give the go-ahead for the merger. Apparently, it was only after Ajit convinced Shah that the two factions took the decision to contest the zilla panchayat polls together.
“Now, after dada’s demise, it seems that the BJP leadership has changed its stand, and asked Fadnavis to make sure that Ajit dada’s faction remains a separate group,” said the source. That is the reason, according to the source, that the four pro-BJP leaders in the party—Tatkare, Patel, Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde—played a key role in decision-making.
Arvind Tiwari, general secretary of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP, said the elder Pawar had no plans to join the NDA. “Why would he want to tarnish his reputation? Supriya tai is also a firm believer in secular ideology. The whole idea behind the merger was to walk out of the NDA and emerge stronger as a regional party by 2029,” he said.
Both factions now perceive a recent statement by Fadnavis as ominous. Fadnavis said Ajit would have told him about merger plans had they really existed. Many leaders take this as a sign—of not just the chances of a merger narrowing, but also the NCP being increasingly guided by Fadnavis and the BJP.