Ex-minister Ravindra Chavan elected BJP's new Maharashtra unit chief

Mumbai: Former minister Ravindra Chavan was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the Maharashtra unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a meeting here, replacing Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule ahead of the crucial municipal polls.

Union minister and BJP's central observer Kiren Rijiju made this announcement following the meeting.

Chavan, a close aide of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has become the 12th president of the party's state unit.

He succeeds Bawankule, who held the post since August 2022.

Chavan had been serving as the working president of the Maharashtra BJP since January this year.

A four-time MLA from Dombivli assembly constituency in Thane district, he was previously Minister of State in the Fadnavis-led government from 2016 to 2019, and later served as Public Works Minister in the Eknath Shinde-led dispensation.

Despite his previous cabinet experience, he was not inducted into the council of ministers when the Mahayuti alliance formed the government in December last year.

Announcing his name, Rijiju said, "I declare the election of Ravindra Chavan as the new state BJP president. He has been elected unanimously. He has already served the party in various organisational roles." Chavan's elevation comes at a crucial time as the party gears up for local body elections expected later this year. He is widely seen as a competent political organiser and has played a key role in expanding the BJP's presence across the Mumbai metropolitan region and Konkan over the past decade.

Chavan had filed his nomination for the post of BJP state unit chief on Monday following the declaration of the election process by Rijiju, who is overseeing the organisational elections in Maharashtra as the party's central observer.

Speaking before Chavan was assigned the new role, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis noted the election of the state president followed a structured process, which began with the selection of district and mandal presidents.

The new president of the Mumbai BJP unit will also be chosen shortly in consultation with the state leadership, he said.

The party's city unit is currently led by Ashish Shelar, who also serves as the Minister for Cultural Affairs.

Chavan began his political career in the early 2000 as a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. He rose through the ranks, becoming the youth wing's vice president in Kalyan district in 2002.

His experience in both organisational and legislative roles is expected to shape the party's strategy in the run-up to key civic elections.

In 2007, Chavan was elected as a corporator in the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Despite the Congress-NCP alliance holding power, he became the chairman of the standing committee.

In 2009, he was nominated as the BJP candidate for the Dombivli assembly seat and won. He was re-elected in 2014 and served as a minister of state overseeing various municipal corporations in the Mumbai metropolitan region, including Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayandar and Panvel.

He played a key organisational role during the expansion of the BJP in semi-urban pockets, such as Karjat, Badlapur, and Matheran. His performance earned him a place in the state cabinet, and he was also made the guardian minister of Palghar and Raigad districts.

In 2019, Chavan won his third term as MLA and was credited for playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in the formation of the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis government in 2022. He was subsequently inducted as a cabinet minister with the PWD portfolio and appointed guardian minister for Sindhudurg.

Chavan won his fourth consecutive term from Dombivli in 2024.