BJP MLA and former minister Ravindra Chavan on Monday filed his nomination for the post of the party’s state president, and a formal announcement will be made by Tuesday evening, Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior party leader Devendra Fadnavis said.
CM Fadnavis said the process of electing the new state chief of the BJP has begun, and Union Minister Kiren Rijuju, who is the party’s central observer, was present during the nomination, as reported by PTI.
“The BJP will soon get a new state president. Ravindra Chavan has filed his nomination today in the presence of senior leaders, including the current chief and state Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and others,” he said.
Who is Ravindra Chavan?
According to the PTI report, Chavan is a prominent face from Thane district, whose political career began in 2007 when he 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, the report added.
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. “Chavan is a four-time legislator and a long-time colleague in the party. We are happy he has filed his nomination. The official announcement will be made by tomorrow evening,” CM Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis lauded the work done by the outgoing state chief, Bawankule, in strengthening the party organisation, which was reflected in the Assembly elections held last year.
BJP moves closer to electing national president
The BJP on Monday moved towards rolling out the exercise to have a new national president as the party elected chiefs in some states and is set to announce more on Tuesday that will put the requisite number of state heads at the helm for it to pick the replacement of JP Nadda.
The BJP’s constitution requires the election of its presidents in at least 19 out of its 37 organisational states before the process to elect its national president begins, and the ruling party is set to cross the threshold on Tuesday, PTI reported.
The BJP has now new state presidents, including some who were reelected, in 16 states, a figure that will rise on Tuesday. Some big states like Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh may also follow suit in the next few days.