The BJP on Tuesday appointed Chandrakant Patil and Swatantra Dev Singh as the presidents of the party’s State unit in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Chandrakant Patil inherits the mantel from Raosaheb Danve, who resigned as the State BJP chief after being inducted in the Modi government.

The party has also appointed construction tycoon and MLA, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, as the president of the Mumbai city unit. He replaced Ashish Shelar, who has been the Mumbai chief for the last six years.

Mild-mannered and self-effacing, Patil is known as an astute tactician within the party. But party sources said his clout was a matter of concern for the Fadnavis government.

Therefore, he has been elevated as the State President by the party high command. Such a step is expected to maintain an internal balance within the party.

Patil, hailing from Kolhapur district in Western Maharashtra, is known as a dyed-in-the-wool activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) — the student arm of the RSS.

His work in Kolhapur has also ensured BJP’s growth in the agriculturally-rich and politically-dominated Maratha region. It was earlier a bastion of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.

In the last two years, Patil has emerged as a key negotiator with various Maratha groups demanding reservation in job and education.

In Uttar Pradesh

Swatantra Dev Singh, an OBC leader, will be replacing Union Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey as State unit chief in Uttar Pradesh.

Pandey was inducted in the Union Cabinet, necessitating a change of guard in the State. Singh is a Kurmi , one of the influential backward castes in the State.

His appointment is seen as part of the BJP’s effort to consolidate its support among the OBCs, who strongly backed the party in the State Assembly and the recent Lok Sabha election.

(with inputs from PTI)

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW