In major reshuffle ahead of civic polls, BJP replaces most of district chiefs with new faces

“ The appointments of 58 district presidents is part of the ongoing organisational reshuffle after the membership drive,” Bawankule said, adding that the party’s focus is on consolidating its base across the state.

While Maharashtra has 36 districts, the BJP has appointed 58 heads across Vidarbha, Marathwada, Western and North Maharashtra and Konkan regions.
For Mumbai district alone, the party has appointed Deepak Tawde, Deepak Dalvi and Virendra Mhatre as the organisational heads of North Mumbai, North East Mumbai and North Central Mumbai divisions, respectively.

Among the notable changes include the appointment of former mayor Dayashankar Tiwari as Nagpur district chief, replacing Bunti Kukade. Nagpur city is the hometown of Fadnavis and Bawankule.

Amar Rajurkar, who is close to senior leader and former chief minister Ashok Chavan, was appointed the Nanded district president. Dheeraj Ghate, Pradeep Kande and Shatrughan Kate have been given charge of Pune city, Pune (North) and Pimpri-Chinchwad, respectively.

In Thane city, which is home to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Sandeep Lele has been given charge, while Jitendra Daki was appointed for Thane Rural.

After the BJP-led Mahayuti government came to power in the Assembly polls held last year, the party has been focusing on organisational consolidation. As part of this, BJP deputed senior leader and former minister Ravindra Chavan as its working state president.

His formal appointment as state BJP president is also expected soon, as the three-year tenure of Bawankule ends in August 2025. In the last four months, the state BJP claimed to have undertook a major membership drive registering 1.5 crore party members. The party has also set the target to enroll five lakh active members.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court directed the holding of local body elections in Maharashtra, that had been held up for some years due to a dispute over OBC reservation.

On May 6, the SC asked the State Election Commission to notify the polls within four weeks and said that efforts be made to complete it within four months.

All 27 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation are under state government administration as their tenure has ended 2022-23. Apart from that, there are two newly created municipal corporations in Jalna and Ichalkaranji which will go to the polls for the first time.

A source within BJP said the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack had led to uncertainty over the poll preparations. “As the situation eased, the preparations will gain momentum,” the source said.

Earlier, Fadnavis had indicated that BJP would contest the local bodies elections with its alliance partners Shiv Sena and NCP. However, all decisions will be taken after adequate consultations with the local units of the party.