Mumbai, Jan 31 (NationPress) Sunetra Pawar, the wife of the late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and a member of the Rajya Sabha, was elected unanimously on Saturday as the leader of the NCP Legislature Party. Her nomination came from party stalwart Chhagan Bhujbal and received support from Dilip Patil along with several other legislators.

The party meeting took place after Sunetra Pawar, still grappling with the profound shock of her husband's unexpected passing in a plane crash on Wednesday in Baramati, agreed to assume the role of Legislature Party leader.

She is poised to make history as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, with her oath-taking scheduled for this evening at Lok Bhavan.

The state NCP president Sunil Tatkare will formally inform Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about Sunetra Pawar's unanimous election as the Legislature Party leader.

Following this, the Chief Minister will relay the news to the state Governor regarding Sunetra Pawar’s inclusion in the Council of Ministers. As part of this transition, Sunetra Pawar is expected to resign from the Rajya Sabha as she prepares to contest from the Baramati Assembly seat in the near future.

Tatkare had previously sent a letter to all party legislators, including 40 from the state Assembly and nine from the state council, urging their presence at the legislative party meeting held at Vidhan Bhavan.

Earlier on Friday, a senior NCP delegation met with Chief Minister Fadnavis to discuss various issues, including the appointment of the new Legislative Party leader and Deputy Chief Minister.

This delegation was comprised of party Working President Praful Patel, state unit chief Sunil Tatkare, ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Hasan Mushrif, and former minister Dhananjay Munde. This development comes in the wake of a notable leadership void within both the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Mahayuti government.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Sharad Pawar clarified that he was not consulted about Sunetra Pawar’s rise to the Deputy CM position. “I was unaware of this and only learned about the swearing-in ceremony through the morning news,” he remarked during a press conference on Saturday morning.

Sharad Pawar also confirmed that discussions about merging the two factions of the NCP had occurred, with positive dialogues between Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil. He revealed that the merger was nearly finalized, with Ajit Pawar planning to announce it on February 12.

Following Sharad Pawar’s comments about his lack of involvement in Sunetra Pawar’s election and elevation, Parth Pawar, son of Ajit Pawar, along with NCP(SP) legislator Rohit Pawar, met with Senior Pawar to brief him on the developments.

Sharad Pawar emphasized that while talks were ongoing, he was not directly involved; the discussions were led by Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil. “It was Ajit Dada’s desire for both NCP factions to unite, which we also wished for,” he stated. However, the sudden death of Ajit Pawar has disrupted these merger discussions.

The future direction of these talks will rely on the leaders from both factions. Sharad Pawar reiterated that a clear roadmap existed, noting that discussions had been taking place for four months to reunite the party. However, with the loss of the leader who initiated these conversations, the process now faces significant hurdles.