Ajit Pawar demise | People favour Sunetra Pawar's entry in Maharashtra cabinet, says NCP leader Narhari Zirwal

Mumbai: Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra FDA minister Narhari Zirwal on Thursday said that the public wants late Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar, to be brought into the state ministry.

Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a constituent of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the state along with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Sunetra Pawar is currently a Rajya Sabha member.

Asked about the NCP's future after Ajit Pawar's death, Zirwal said that people want "vahini" (sister-in-law, referring to Sunetra Pawar) to be included in the ministry.

"We will talk to the leadership about it and take a decision,'' Zirwal, who was a close confidant of Ajit Pawar, told a news channel after the leader's funeral in Baramati.

To a question on the merger of the two NCP groups, Zirwal said, ''The two factions are already together. Everyone has realised that there is no point in remaining scattered and have to be together.'' Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when the chartered plane carrying them crashed at Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday.

In July 2023, Ajit Pawar had joined the then Eknath Shinde-led state government, triggering a split in the NCP founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar.