Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is likely to be appointed the state's new Deputy Chief Minister. Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday stated that the NCP legislature party will meet on January 31, Saturday, to appoint Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, as its leader. Following this, Sunetra can take the oath as deputy chief minister tomorrow or soon thereafter.

Speaking to news agency PTI at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) office, Bhujbal said Maharashtra Chief Devendra Fadnavis has conveyed that he has no objection if Sunetra takes oath as deputy chief minister on Saturday, provided the decision is formally approved by the NCP legislature wing.

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"The legislature party meeting of the NCP will be convened on Saturday, where Sunetra Pawar will be named as its leader. Many leaders want her to become the deputy CM," Bhujbal told PTI.

Sunetra Pawar, currently a Rajya Sabha MP, is not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature. The Baramati Assembly seat in Pune district has fallen vacant following Ajit Pawar's death in a plane crash on Wednesday.

The priority is to fill the vacant post of the legislature party leader, followed by the deputy chief minister position, Bhujbal added. "(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.

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He stressed that the final decision will be made during the NCP legislature party meeting tomorrow.

Ajit Pawar Plane Crash 

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and four others died after a chartered plane carrying them crashed while landing on Wednesday, January 28, in Baramati, Pune district.

(With PTI Inputs)