ALL STRINGS ATTACHED

Sunetra Pawar's appointment as deputy chief minister offers a fascinating glimpse into the workings of both the NCP and the Pawar family

- BY DNYANESH JATHAR

THE SHOW MUST go on.

That, apparently, was the feeling of the top three leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party—Sunil Tatkare, Praful Patel and Chhagan Bhujbal—when they decided that Sunetra Pawar should succeed her late husband, Ajit Pawar, as Maharashtra deputy chief minister.

Sunetra, 62, hails from an influential Maratha family in Marathwada. Her father, Bajirao Patil, was a senior Congress leader in Dharashiv district (formerly Osmanabad). Bajirao's elder son, Dr Padmasinh Patil, rose through the political ranks with Ajit, and later became minister holding important portfolios such as home and energy. Padmasinh played a key role in Sunetra marrying Ajit in 1985 soon after she graduated in commerce from a college in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad).

Sunetra has been active in Baramati's social life since she joined the Pawar family. She led the 2006 initiative to end open defecation in Katewadi village, home to the Pawar clan. Her work earned Katewadi many state and national awards. She also solved the water scarcity problem in Baramati taluka by making streams in the region deeper, and set up an environmental action group when taking up environmental issues was considered an elitist preoccupation. She helped set up a high-tech textile park in Baramati, which now employs more than 5,000 women, and was president of the Maharashtra State Agri and Rural Tourism Cooperative Federation.