Maharashtra Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar Appointed As Guardian Minister For Pune & Beed Districts Days After Ajit Pawar's Death

Pune: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Tuesday, February 3, appointed as the guardian minister for Pune and Beed districts, days after Ajit Pawar's untimely demise in the Baramati plane crash, as reported by news agency ANI.

The development came just days after Sunetra Pawar, on Saturday, January 31, took oath as deputy CM and became the first woman to hold this post in the state. After her oath, she was also allotted excise, sports, minority development and Aukaf departments, but not finance and planning, which her late husband Ajit Pawar held.

The sudden demise of Ajit Pawar sent shockwaves across Maharashtra’s political landscape. The late leader died on January 28 after the chartered aircraft he was travelling on crashed near the tabletop runway at Baramati while attempting to land. Besides Pawar, the aircraft was carrying two pilots, one crew member and his personal bodyguard. All five occupants lost their lives in the tragic crash. The incident plunged Maharashtra into a deep mourning. On January 29, the Maharashtra’s longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister, in non-consecutive terms, was laid to rest with full state honours at the Vidya Pratishthan Grounds in presence of family, political leaders and thousands of supporters.