Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday appointed Chandrashekhar Bawankule as its Maharashtra unit president with the twin objective of rebuilding the party organization in its stronghold Vidarbha and improving its ties with the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Similarly, former Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar returned to his role as Mumbai unit president, primarily to lead the party in what was expected to be held in the Mumbai civic polls.
To be held later this year.
As Mumbai BJP president in 2017, MLA Shelar had expanded the BJP’s strength in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which was almost on par with the Shiv Sena.
Bawankule has replaced Kothrud MLA Chandrakant Patil, while Shelar has replaced Malabar Hill MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha. Patil and Lodha were inducted as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra cabinet earlier this week.
“Chandrasekhar Bawankule is a senior OBC leader. He was a former minister in the state and General Secretary (General Secretary in the state),” BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde told reporters.
About Shelar’s appointment as Mumbai BJP president, Tawde said: “The upcoming BMC elections are crucial for the BJP especially in view of the changing political situation. And, at such times, the appointment of a veteran leader like Ashish Shelar, who increased the BJP’s strength in the BMC from 31 to 82 seats, has a different meaning. ,
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‘Appointment of Bawankule for reconstruction of base in Vidarbha’
With Bawankule’s appointment, political analyst Abhay Deshpande told ThePrint, the BJP wants to rebuild its base in Vidarbha and reach out to the OBCs as well.
In Maharashtra, the OBC community has been important to the BJP since the 1980s, when the party began actively trying to promote leaders such as Gopinath Munde and took advantage of the political disillusionment that OBCs had with the Maratha-centric Congress party. felt together.
However, former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a Brahmin, tightened his grip on the BJP, some Anger started to build up among the old defenders, some of whom were prominent OBC leaders like Pankaja Munde and Eknath Khadse.
Khadse finally quit party and joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 2020.
BJP sources said having an OBC leader as the state party president would help in correcting the perception of the party among the OBC community, especially Bawankule who is said to have been sidelined in 2019.
Bawankule, a telly, was denied a ticket to contest the assembly elections – a move that took many by surprise as he neither had any apparent tussle with Fadnavis, who has become the face of the BJP in Maharashtra. , nor is there any major sticky controversy when it comes to handling your portfolio as energy. Minister
Thereafter, the performance of the BJP declined in Nagpur, the main political center of Vidarbha division.
BJP in 2020 Lost MLC elections for Nagpur Graduates’ constituency, which was once held by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. The following year, the BJP received Defeat In Vidarbha elections to Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti with Congress leading.
Tawde, however, denied any suggestion to treat Bawankule’s appointment as a course correction. “There is no improvement in every step. I was not given ticket in 2019 (assembly elections). Does this mean that what happened to me (appointment as national general secretary) was a course correction?”
“The party always has some plan in its mind and it works accordingly. Leadership harnesses the abilities of all workers and takes decisions,” he said.
Shelar appointed to deal with the army
As Tawde said, Shelar’s appointment as Mumbai BJP president was significant at this time because of his record of leading the party’s fight against the Shiv Sena.
Party insiders said Shelar, a lawyer by profession, is more vocal and vocal in his criticism of political rivals than his predecessor, Lodha. BJP leaders also said that the Marathi face would be an added impetus in a high-decibel election to take on the Shiv Sena.
The Shiv Sena has led the BMC for 25 years, most of which was in alliance with the BJP. However, both the parties contested the elections alone in 2017, leading to an acrimonious campaign against each other. Shelar had persevered targeted Shiv Sena, as he blamed it for alleged corruption and lack of transparency in BMC.
Under Shelar, the BJP came close to grabbing the Mumbai civic body from the Shiv Sena, ending up with just two seats against the latter’s 84.
Political analyst Deshpande said, “Shelar’s name was also being discussed for the state president’s post, but state leaders convinced the central leadership that he needed more as Mumbai BJP chief at this time.”
(Edited by Tony Rae)