Focus on Sunetra Pawar as Ajit successor buzz gathers steam

Nationalist Congress Party working president Praful Patel on Friday said there is no opposition to late Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawars wife Sunetra becoming the new leader of the NCP legislature wing, but the family consent will be taken before filling the key post.

Nationalist Congress Party working president Praful Patel on Friday said there is no opposition to late Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra becoming the new leader of the NCP legislature wing, but the family consent will be taken before filling the key post. Patel's remarks came amid statements by some party leaders who said Sunetra, a Rajya Sabha member, is likely to be the new NCP legislature party leader and also the deputy CM. Patel, a former Union minister, said right now the priority is to fill the vacant posts of Deputy CM and NCP legislature party leader, both held by Ajit Pawar at the time of his death in an air crash on January 28, and added that making appointment at the top organisational position (the late leader was also party president) was not an issue currently. Talking to reporters here, Patel said party leaders met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to apprise him that the NCP, a key constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, is in the process of finalising its leadership transition. ''Ajit Pawar was the leader of the NCP legislature party and an important functionary of the ruling Mahayuti alliance. We are in the process of finalising the leadership transition,'' he said. Patel insisted there was no question of opposing Sunetra Pawar's name to replace Ajit Pawar as the NCP legislature party leader. Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha MP and not a member of the either house of the state legislature. However, the Baramati assembly seat in Pune district has fallen vacant after Ajit Pawar's death. ''Sentiments of the people and that of the party are the same. We have to speak to the (Ajit Pawar) family (over key appointments), request them first (for approval),'' Patel said. Senior NCP leaders on Friday met Fadnavis at his official residence Varsha in south Mumbai. The meeting lasted nearly one and a half hours, and was attended by senior party leaders, including Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, state president Sunil Tatkare and former minister Dhananjay Munde. NCP minister Narhari Zirwal on Thursday had publicly expressed his wish that Sunetra Pawar be appointed as the deputy chief minister. According to a close associate of Pawar, he was keen on the merger of the two factions of the NCP and that it was about to happen soon. BJP's Maharashtra unit media in-charge Navnath Ban on Friday said there was no doubt that Ajit Pawar would be cleared of the allegations levelled against him in the alleged irrigation scam case. Speaking to reporters, Ban responded to remarks by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, who had said that the true tribute to Pawar, who died in a plane crash on Wednesday, would be for the BJP to withdraw the allegations. Ban said the matter was in court, and it was inappropriate to raise political questions at a time when the entire state was mourning Pawar's untimely death. ''The case relating to the irrigation scam allegations is already in court. There is no doubt that Ajit Pawar will get justice and will be cleared of the charges against him,'' Ban said. A day after Ajit Pawar was cremated in his hometown Baramati in Pune district, his two sons on Friday collected his ashes from the funeral site. Pawar (66), fondly called 'Dada' (elder brother), was cremated with full state honours on Thursday at Baramati, located around 100 km from Pune. On Friday, Parth and Jay collected the ashes from the cremation ground. The late leader's uncle and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar and other members of the family were present during the ritual. In Hinduism, ashes are traditionally collected on the next day of the cremation and later immersed in a river. Party sources said the proposed merger of NCP and NCP (SP) headed by Sharad Pawar, is ''very much on course'', with talks reaching an ''advanced stage'' even before the deputy chief minister's death. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) has started its probe into the plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar and four others, an official said on Friday. The state police have issued orders about the CID probe into the accidental death case registered at Baramati, the official told PTI. MR ND SPK DC ARU NP NR RSY VT

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