Lobbying on for post of Maha BJP chief

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 28

Senior leaders of the BJP have begun lobbying for the presidentship of its Maharashtra unit after the post fell vacant following the elevation of Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister.

Caste and regional combinations are being worked out to eliminate some and include others as party’s leaders from Vidarbha belonging to the Brahmin community are seen dominating the government.

Party sources say the next president of the Maharashtra BJP is likely to be a Maratha who does not belong to Vidarbha. The main contenders are Ashish Shelar, MLA from Bandra (Mumbai) who headed the city unit of the party, Union Minister of State Raosaheb Danve and Solapur MLA Subhash Deshmukh.

In the past, the BJP has been choosing its state leadership from Vidarbha. Prominent party leaders such as Fadnavis and his predecessor Nitin Gadkari are from this region. At present, both are in the government. The buzz in the BJP is that the powerful Maratha community is thinly represented in the government and needs to be given positions of power at the party level.

Still, several non-Marathas are expected to pitch aggressively for the top party post. Pankaja Munde, daughter of Gopinath Munde, who is a minister in the Fadnavis Cabinet, is also a strong contender, sources say. However her caste—Vanjari—is likely to go against her, sources maintain.