Who is Sunetra Pawar? Rajya Sabha MP, social worker, sworn-in as Maharashtra’s first woman Deputy CM

Sunetra Pawar (Image: Facebook)

• Sunetra Pawar entered politics in 2024, running for Lok Sabha from Baramati.
• Her name is under consideration for Maharashtra Deputy CM, no decision yet.
• She led sanitation and women's welfare initiatives in Baramati and Kathewadi.

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Sunetra Pawar was sworn in on Saturday to take charge as Maharashtra’s new Deputy Chief Minister. The 63-year-old has become the state’s first woman Deputy CM and stepped into a role left vacant after the accidental death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar. She took the oath amid chants of 'Ajit Dada Amar Rahein' at the Lok Bhavan in Mumbai.

Though she has been part of one of Maharashtra’s most powerful political families for decades, Sunetra Pawar remained largely away from frontline politics until recently. He elevation now places her at the centre of both the NCP’s internal churn and the continuing realignment within the Pawar family.

Early life, family background and social work

Born in 1963 in Osmanabad (now Dharashiv), Sunetra Pawar comes from a Maratha family with a strong political legacy. Her father Bajirao Patil was a local political figure, while her brother Padamsinh Bajirao Patil emerged as an influential leader in the district during the 1980s. Long before her marriage into the Pawar household, she had grown up in an atmosphere shaped by public life.

She completed her Bachelor’s degree in commerce from SB Arts and Commerce College in Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) in 1983. In December 1985, she married Ajit Pawar, after the two met earlier that year through an alliance arranged by her brother.

For many years, Sunetra Pawar stayed away from electoral politics, focusing instead on social initiatives, particularly in and around Baramati. Her earliest major effort was in Kathewadi, the Pawar family’s ancestral village, where she took the lead in a sanitation campaign after observing widespread open defecation and poor hygiene.

Villagers recall her personally joining cleanliness drives and persuading families to construct toilets. In 2006, Kathewadi received the Centre’s “Nirmal Gram” status for becoming open-defecation free. Over time, the village was developed into a model eco village with solar streetlights, biogas units, waste management systems and organic farming practices. It also won several honours, including the Sant Gadgebaba Swachhata Abhiyan award.

Other initiatives in Kathewadi included recording mothers’ names along with fathers’ names in land records and encouraging women’s self-help groups, moves that were projected as steps towards gender inclusion.

Sunetra Pawar later became associated with the Baramati Hi Tech Textile Park, a 65-acre project approved in 2008 under the Centre’s Scheme for Integrated Textile Parks. The facility employs more than 15,000 workers, most of them women, across apparel, weaving, and printing units. She has served as chairperson of the project.

Entry into politics, Rajya Sabha role, and controversies

Sunetra Pawar formally entered electoral politics during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when Ajit Pawar fielded her as the NCP candidate from Baramati on the BJP-led NDA ticket. She contested against her sister-in-law, Supriya Sule, the daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, in a contest that symbolised the deep split within both the Pawar family and the party. Sunetra Pawar lost the election.

Months later, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, a move widely seen as an attempt to give her a formal political position after the Baramati setback. Since taking the oath in June 2024, her attendance in the Upper House has been around 69%. She has participated in four debates, compared with a national average of 58, which translates to roughly 10 debates per year across a six-year term.

After swearing-in as deputy CM, Sunetra Pawar will now have to resign from her seat, allowing her to contest the by-election for Baramati constituency, a seat previously held by Ajit Pawar, which is currently vacant. According to speculations in media reports, her Rajya Sabha seat may go to her son, Parth.

While she maintains a low public profile, some controversies have touched her family. In 2009, her brother Padamsinh Patil was named the main accused in the 2006 murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver near Navi Mumbai. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged him with murder and criminal conspiracy, and the case remains pending.

Sunetra Pawar’s name also surfaced in early probes related to the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank case because of her links to companies involved in sugar mill transactions. In 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets linked to firms associated with Ajit and Sunetra Pawar, though neither was named in the chargesheet. In April 2024, the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing gave her a clean chit, stating that no criminal offence was found in the loan sanctioning or sale and lease of sugar mills linked to the bank.

Deputy CM race, party consultations, and challenges ahead

Following Ajit Pawar’s death, the NCP has begun internal and external consultations to decide on a successor for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post. A delegation comprising Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Dhananjay Munde met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday.

Patel said the delegation underlined the need for speed. “Preliminary discussions were held with Devendra Fadnavis today. We told him that a decision needs to be made as soon as possible. We will finalize our stance after speaking with the party’s MLAs; that is all we conveyed to him today. The name of Sunetra Pawar was not discussed in today’s meeting. The decision regarding who will be appointed as Deputy Chief Minister will be taken after consulting our legislators. We will make a decision after understanding everyone’s sentiments,” he said on Friday.

He also noted the party’s sensitivity to the situation. “We are still in a period of political mourning, and family rituals are ongoing. We will speak with Sunetra Pawar either tonight or tomorrow, at least after the family ceremonies are concluded,” Patel added.

Sources had said an NCP legislative party meeting could be held within a day or two to gauge the mood of MLAs. Chief whip Anil Bhaidas Patil said, “We have yet not finalised the time and date of the meeting. It will be decided after talking to the leadership.”

It was reported that within the party, some workers favoured a member of the Pawar family for the role, and Sunetra Pawar’s name continued to circulate, even as leaders stressed that no formal decision had been announced.

Sunetra Pawar will face the task of asserting herself among seasoned leaders who have long held organisational and ministerial posts. In case of any future rapprochement between the two NCP factions, Sharad Pawar is expected to influence the transition. Otherwise, she is likely to rely heavily on her sons, Parth and Jay, while navigating a party shaped by both family loyalties and factional calculations.