Ex-minister Ravindra Chavan unanimously elected as new Maharashtra BJP president

Former minister Ravindra Chavan was on Tuesday unanimously elected as the Maharashtra unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP at a meeting in Mumbai replacing Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule ahead of the crucial municipal pollsUnion minister and BJPs central observer Kiren Rijiju made this announcement following the meetingChavan a close aide of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has become the 12th president of the partys state unitHe succeeds Bawankule who held the post since August 2022Chavan had been serving as the working president of the Maharashtra BJP since January this yearA fourtime MLA from Dombivli assembly constituency in Thane district he was previously Minister of State in the Fadnavisled government from 2016 to 2019 and later served as Public Works Minister in the Eknath Shindeled dispensationDespite his previous cabinet experience he was not inducted into the council of ministers when the Mahayuti alliance formed the government in December last yearAnnouncing 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 reported PTIChavans 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 BJPs presence across the Mumbai metropolitan region and Konkan over the past decadeChavan 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 partys central observerSpeaking 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 presidentsThe new president of the Mumbai BJP unit will also be chosen shortly in consultation with the state leadership he saidThe partys city unit is currently led by Ashish Shelar who also serves as the Minister for Cultural AffairsChavan 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 wings vice president in Kalyan district in 2002His experience in both organisational and legislative roles is expected to shape the partys strategy in the runup to key civic electionsIn 2007 Chavan was elected as a corporator in the KalyanDombivli Municipal Corporation Despite the CongressNCP alliance holding power he became the chairman of the standing committeeIn 2009 he was nominated as the BJP candidate for the Dombivli assembly seat and won He was reelected in 2014 and served as a minister of state overseeing various municipal corporations in the Mumbai metropolitan region including KalyanDombivli MiraBhayandar and PanvelHe played a key organisational role during the expansion of the BJP in semiurban 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 districtsIn 2019 Chavan won his third term as MLA and was credited for playing a crucial behindthescenes role in the formation of the Eknath ShindeFadnavis government in 2022 He was subsequently inducted as a cabinet minister with the PWD portfolio and appointed guardian minister for SindhudurgChavan won his fourth consecutive term from Dombivli in 2024With inputs from PTI