Sunetra Pawar vows to fulfil Ajit Pawar’s Beed vision

Sunetra, who assumed office as deputy chief minister on January 31, has been assigned charge of Pune and Beed districts as guardian minister. The portfolio was earlier held by Ajit Pawar, who oversaw development and administrative planning in both districts until he died in a plane crash in Baramati earlier this year

Mumbai: Marking her first visit as the guardian minister, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar on Friday said her priority is to transform Beed into one of Maharashtra’s top-performing districts, while carrying forward the vision of her late husband Ajit Pawar.

Dy CM and guardian minister of Beed and Pune, Sunetra Pawar. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Sunetra, who assumed office as deputy chief minister on January 31, has been assigned charge of Pune and Beed districts as guardian minister. The portfolio was earlier held by Ajit Pawar, who oversaw development and administrative planning in both districts until he died in a plane crash in Baramati earlier this year.

Beed has remained in focus in recent months following the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, an incident that exposed concerns over law and order and triggered tensions between Maratha and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities in the region. The fallout also led to the resignation of senior NCP leader and minister Dhananjay Munde after his close aide was arrested in connection with the case. Ajit Pawar had subsequently taken charge as the guardian minister to stabilise the situation. Another NCP functionary, Vishnu Chate, the party’s Kej taluka chief, was also arrested and booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), dealing a blow to both the party and the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Now stepping into that role, Sunetra Pawar said she is committed to continuing the work initiated by him.

“Today is an emotional day for me. I had the honour of hoisting the flag. I want to say to the people of Beed that I am deeply moved, and I will make every effort to fulfill the dreams envisioned by Ajit Dada Pawar for this district,” she said after hoisting a flag on the occasion of Maharashtra Day on Friday in Beed.

“My goal is to make Beed the number one district in the state, and I urge all of you to support me in this journey,” she added during a brief media interaction, turning emotional before regaining composure.

She said several key decisions had already been taken under Ajit Pawar’s leadership to change the district’s trajectory. “All the projects initiated by him will be completed,” she said.