Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Saturday, January 31, allocated the Maharashtra Excise Duty, Sports and Youth Welfare, and Minorities Development & Aukaf departments, Governor Acharya Devvrat said. Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, took oath as Deputy Chief Minister following her husband's death in the Baramati plane crash.
According to the news agency ANI report, the portfolio of Finance, which was previously held by the late Ajit Pawar, has been given to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The announcement just came hours after she was sworn in as Maharashtra's first woman deputy Chief Minister. Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath.
Earlier in the day, Pawar was elected as the party’s legislative leader. After Ajit Pawar's death, a section of NCP leaders had demanded that she be given the post held by her late husband in the Devendra Fadnavis-led cabinet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his best wishes to Sunetra Pawar and expressed confidence that she would for the welfare of the people of the state and fulfil the vision of the late Ajitdada Pawar. Union minister Nitin Gadkari also praised Pawar for taking on the responsibility of the post in the most difficult circumstances, keeping in mind the interests of the state.
Following her husband's death in an air crash in Baramati on January 28, the Nationalist Congress Party, a constituent of the Mahayuti government, elected her as the leader of its legislature wing.
Ajit Pawar died in the Baramati plane crash on January 28. The incident happened when the jet carrying NCP leader Pawar and four others was descending in Pune's Baramati region.
