India, Feb. 26 -- Maharashtra deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar was on Thursday elected unanimously as the national president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in place of her husband, late Ajit Pawar, in a meeting of the national executive of the party.

Sunetra Pawar, 62, is the third national president of the party after Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar and first woman chief of the party. She took over the reigns of the party following the death of her husband in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28.

The move assumes significance in the backdrop of the push by Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) for merger of the two factions of the NCP. The party founded by Sharad Pawar was split in June 2023 after Ajit Pawar rebelled with majority of pa...