Even before she settles down in her new role as the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, Sunetra Pawar finds herself confronting challenges on the fronts of both within the ruling Mahayuti alliance and state politics.
On the government front, Sunetra’s challenges seem to have only just begun, starting with weekly Cabinet and district planning meetings. While she is still trying to understand the administrative duties of her chair once occupied by her late husband and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stalwart Ajit Pawar, an alleged case of corruption by a clerk in the state Food and Drugs Administration, which is headed by senior NCP minister Narhari Zirwal, has come to light. The Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted a raid, arrested the clerk and sealed the office. Zirwal has maintained, “I have no role. But if any link is ascertained I am ready to resign.”
At a time when CM Devendra Fadnavis has embarked on a mission to bring greater accountability and transparency in the administration, such cases of corruption in the Mantralaya, the state government’s headquarters, has left the BJP-led Mahayuti embarrassed.
In such a situation, Sunetra’s role in the government and her directives to NCP ministers and lawmakers will be closely watched. But the corruption case does not augur well for the minister in question or the NCP.
A senior Mahayuti minister said, “While there are no justifications for such instances, this is not a case in isolation. Here, the individual is caught red-handed. The money transition for getting work done is deep rooted in our government across departments and organisations.” Tackling this effectively, the minister said, will require political will and public participation.
However, the NCP’s penchant for courting controversies is known. Over the past year, Ajit Pawar had sacked two of his party’s ministers – Dhananjay Munde, removed over the Beed sarpanch murder case, and Manikrao Kokate, who was ousted after a court upheld his conviction in a 1995 housing scam case.
While a close aide of Munde, Walmik Karad, is an accused in the killing of Massajog village sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, Kokate had also drawn flak after a video of him playing rummy in the state Assembly had gone viral.
In the current corruption case, a clerk in the Food and Drugs Administration has been accused of seeking a Rs 50,000 bribe for renewing the licence of a medical store.
Though Munde and Kokate were made to resign after their rows snowballed, similar action was not seen in various cases allegedly involving ministers of the BJP’s another ally Shiv Sena, led by Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Despite Fadnavis’s public push for accountability and transparency, he has only been able to flag issues to alliance partners and leave it up to them to take any action.
According to BJP insiders, “The CM will take a collective decision after adequately consulting both Sunetra Pawar and Eknath Shinde on good governance. And in the coming months after the Budget Session, a possible reshuffle to weed out non-performing ministers cannot be ruled out.”
The state’s Budget Session, from February 23 to March 25, is set to be crucial for the Mahayuti, with Fadnavis expected to set the direction for administration and governance through the 2026-27 Budget.
But though these are early days for Sunetra, who lacks the political and administrative experience of her husband, insiders say she remains calm and committed to leading from the front. A senior BJP functionary said, “The firmness she has displayed has taken many within the government and outside by surprise.”
Tussle with Sharad Pawar faction
In the days after Ajit Pawar’s death, amid questions over succession, Sunetra has also found herself in a power tussle, with the NCP and NCP (SP) factions engaged in an intense war of words.
With the NCP yet to select a new party president, party working president Praful Patel on Friday said, “Sunetra Pawar is the only candidate for NCP president. There is absolute consensus on this. It will be done within two weeks.”
But NCP(SP) leaders are persisting with the proposed merger between the two factions, a process that was centred on Ajit’s support but has not been dismissed by NCP leaders. As NCP(SP) leader Shashikant Shinde said, “Ajit Pawar was set to lead the merged factions. He had started the process of course corrections.”
But state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare said the party never received any merger proposal from the NCP(SP). “Ajit Pawar had taken the decision to become part of the BJP-led coalition, after weighing the pros and cons, as he believed development was possible by being in the government.”
Amid these competing narratives around the merger, Sunetra has been forced into a tight-rope walk between the factions. While carving her own political identity within the NCP, Sunetra Pawar will also have to be wary of the unrest within the NCP(SP).
NCP insiders said, “The NCP-NCP(SP) merger is unlikely immediately. It has been put on the backburner.”
On its part, the state BJP leadership has urged its legislators and local leaders to exercise caution and keep out of the merger politics.
BJP media cell in-charge Navnath Ban said, “Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar is capable of leading the NCP. The BJP believes she is capable and has all the rights to decide on a merger.” He added that the BJP will stand by the Sunetra-led NCP.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had slammed the BJP earlier, alleging that “The BJP would gradually use and throw alliance partners… The NCP is being controlled by Amit Shah and not Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra.”