By IANS,
New Delhi: In a sign of their increasing importance in the party, Supriya Sule, the daughter of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss Sharad Pawar, and Agatha Sangma – both parliament members – were Tuesday inducted into the party working committee.
While Sule is a first-time Lok Sabha member from Baramati in Maharashtra, Minister of State for Rural Development Agatha Sangma, also a first-time MP from Meghalaya’s Tura constituency, is the daughter of senior party leader P.A. Sangma.
Pawar had said during the party’s convention last month that there was need to bring women and youth to the forefront of the party’s leadership.
Interestingly, the name of Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar is missing from the new list of office-bearers announced by party spokesperson D.P. Tripathi Tuesday. Ajit Pawar is a minister in the Maharashtra government.
The list of office-bearers comprises six general secretaries, 13 secretaries, 19 members of the working committee besides permanent invitees and heads of frontal organisations, departments and cells.
P.A. Sangma, Tariq Anwar, T.P.P. Master, D.P. Tripathi, V. Rajeshwaran and Govindrao Adik are the general secretaries of the party headed by Pawar.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is the deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha.
Apart from Pawar, Sule, Agatha and six general secretaries, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil is another prominent leader in the 19-member working committee.
Pawar also announced leaders of the party’s frontal organisations. Nivedita Mane (president, Nationalist Mahila Congress), Rajeev Jha (president, Nationalist Youth Congress), Chaudhary Ved Pal (chairman, Nationalist Kisan Congress) and Chandbabu Rehman (president, Nationalist Student Congress).
Praful Patel is the chairman of the six-member disciplinary committee.
On Sule’s nomination, party sources said she is being “groomed as a successor” to Pawar.
“She is likely to play an active role in the national scene,” a source said, and added that “Ajit Pawar is likely to play his role in Maharashtra.”