Author: Kiran D Tare

>> Oath, Rift and Merger Claim When Sunetra Pawar took oath as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister on January 30, three days after her husband Ajit Pawar, then deputy chief minister, died in a plane crash, her father-in-law Sharad Pawar was visibly upset. He told reporters earlier the same day that she had not informed him about her swearing-in. Pawar also claimed that Ajit, his nephew, had agreed to the unification of both the factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). “He was going to announce the merger on February 12,” Pawar said. Ajit was heading the NCP while Pawar was…