India, Feb. 27 -- Maharashtra deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar was unanimously elected national president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at the party's national convention held in Mumbai on Thursday. The 62-year-old took over the reins following the death of her husband, Ajit Pawar, in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28.

Sunetra Pawar becomes the third national president of the NCP, after party founder Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Her elevation comes amid renewed calls from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) for a merger of the party's two factions. However, top party leaders used the national convention as a platform to make it absolutely clear that they are not interested in any such merger, and even criticised the NCP (SP)...