Mumbai: A day after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s death in a plane crash, voices emerged within his party NCP on Thursday for a state cabinet berth for his wife Sunetra, while rival factions spoke of reconciliation and taking forward merger talks.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders also suggested that Sunetra Pawar should step forward and lead the outfit, which is a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance led by the BJP.
Senior NCP leader and FDA Minister Narhari Zirwal said it is people’s wish that late Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member, be inducted into the state ministry.
Asked about the NCP’s future after the untimely death of Ajit Pawar, who was also the party president, Zirwal told reporters that people want “vahini” (sister-in-law, referring to Sunetra Pawar) to be made a cabinet member.
“We will talk to our leadership about it (inducting Sunetra in cabinet) and take a decision,’’ Zirwal, who was a close confidant of Ajit Pawar, said after the late politician’s funeral in his hometown Baramati in Pune district.
To a question on the possible merger of the rival groups, ruling ally NCP and Opposition NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), he noted, ‘’The two factions are already together (for local body polls). Everyone has realised that there was no point in remaining scattered and we have to be together.’’
NCP leader and former minister Nawab Malik emphasised that final decision on the merger was to be taken by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar, who heads the NCP (SP).
“Now, I cannot predict how politics will take shape. But it is everyone’s wish that the entire family and the two parties should come together,” Malik said.
Another NCP leader and Ajit Pawar confidante, Pramod Hindurao, maintained Sunetra Pawar should carry forward the legacy of her husband and take care of party workers.
