Ahead of the upcoming municipal elections, senior BJP leader and four-time MLA Ravindra Chavan was unanimously elected as the president of the party’s Maharashtra unit on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Union Minister and BJP central observer Kiren Rijiju following a party meeting in Mumbai.
Chavan replaced Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who had served as the state president since August 2022. The transition comes at a critical juncture, as the party prepares for local body polls across the state later this year.
All about new Maharashtra BJP President
A close confidant of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, 53-year-old Chavan, became the 12th state president of the Maharashtra BJP. Known for his quiet organisational skills and electoral acumen, he has been serving as the party’s working president in the state since January 2024.
A seasoned political operator with strong roots in the Mumbai metropolitan region, Chavan has represented the Dombivli Assembly constituency in Thane district since 2009. His rise within the BJP began with his stint in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), where he was appointed vice president of the youth wing’s Kalyan unit in 2002. He made his electoral debut in 2007 as a corporator in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation and became chairman of its standing committee.
He first entered the Maharashtra Assembly in 2009 and was re-elected in 2014, 2019 and again in 2024. In the Fadnavis-led government (2016–2019), he served as MoS for Urban Development, handling key municipal bodies like Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar and Panvel. He later held the Public Works Department (PWD) portfolio in the Eknath Shinde-led government and served as guardian minister for Palghar, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts.
Despite being left out of the cabinet during the Mahayuti government formation in December 2023, Chavan maintained an influential position within the party. He played a behind-the-scenes role in the formation of the Shinde-Fadnavis alliance in 2022.
Chavan’s elevation is widely seen as a strategic move to strengthen the BJP’s grassroots connect in semi-urban areas such as Badlapur, Matheran and Karjat, the regions where he has overseen organisational expansion over the past decade.
Chief Minister Fadnavis praised the structured nature of the internal election process and noted that the new Mumbai BJP unit chief would be selected in consultation with the state leadership. The city unit is currently headed by Ashish Shelar.
(With inputs from PTI)