NCP (SP) not consulted about Sunetra Pawar's decision to join cabinet: sources

Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar, who is likely to be sworn in as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister replacing her deceased husband and NCP chief Ajit Pawar in the state cabinet, left for Mumbai on Friday evening, sources said. While the talk of imminent merger of the two NCP factions was gaining ground following Ajit Pawar's death in an air crash on Wednesday, the leaders of the NCP (SP) or Sharad Pawar's family were not privy to her decision to join the BJP-led Mahayuti government, sources said. ''The NCP (SP) leadership and Sharad Pawar's family members were completely in the dark about her plans,'' a source added. Sunetra Pawar, who is not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature, will be elected as leader of the legislature wing of the Nationalist Congress Party at a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday, after which she is likely to take oath as deputy CM. Sunetra, who made her debut in electoral politics in 2024, would be the first woman to hold the post of Deputy CM in the state.