In a major change of guard before the state Assembly polls due in September, the BJP has appointed revenue minister Chandrakant Patil as the Maharashtra unit president. BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha will head the Mumbai wing of the party.
Patil will replace Raosaheb Danve Patil, who is a MP from Jalna in Marathwada, and has been appointed as a Union minister of state in the Narendra Modi-led cabinet. Patil, who hails from Kolhapur district, and has roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), was seen as the number two in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government.
Incidentally, in the recent budget session of the state legislature, NCP MLA Jayant Patil, who is also the party's Maharashtra president, had accused Patil of irregularities which helped builders make a killing in land deals in Pune. However, Patil had denied any wrongdoing on his part.
After the appointment, Patil, who is a member of the Legislative Council from the Pune graduates constituency and has been the BJP's Maharashtra general secretary in the past, said he would "work hard to give justice to his responsibilities (ministerial portfolios and the state unit president's position)."
"The party thought about it and decided I would give justice to these commitments," he added.
"I will do what the Centre and party decides," said Patil, when asked about whether he would give up his position in the state cabinet to lead the charge for the party in Maharashtra. He denied he was initially not eager to take charge of the BJP's Maharashtra unit. After the resignation of Eknath Khadse as the state revenue minister in 2016, Patil, who is seen as being close to BJP national president and union home minister Amit Shah, was given charge of the high-profile ministry, in addition to his public works department (PWD) portfolio. Khadse quit after a controversy over his kin having purchased a three-acre plot reserved for the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) at Bhosari at a value less than the market rate.
Lodha, who is an MLA from Malabar Hill in south Mumbai, will take over as the Mumbai BJP chief from Ashish Shelar. Shelar, who is a legislator from Bandra West, was included in the Fadnavis cabinet and appointed as the minister for school education.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Chandrakant Patil")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}