A karsevak part of Babri demolition, a Congress turncoat and a woman professor: BJP’s RS choices from Maharashtra

Who are the 3 BJP nominees?

Ashok Chavan

A day after joining the BJP, Ashok Chavan, 66, who hails from Maharashtra’s Nanded district, made it to the party’s Rajya Sabha list. A Maratha leader with a 38-year-long political career in Congress, Chavan’s shift to the BJP was long awaited. Starting his political career as a student leader in the Congress, he held many important positions both in the Congress party and the government. He represented Nanded in the Lok Sabha from 1987-89, was elected to the state Legislative Council in 1992, and the state Assembly from 1999 to 2004 (Mudkhed constituency) and from 2009 to 2024 (Bokhar constituency).

The senior Congress leader was a cabinet minister with important portfolios such as industries, transport and cultural affairs in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) coalition government. In 2014, despite a Narendra Modi wave, Chavan won the Nanded Lok Sabha polls. However, he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to BJP’s Prataprao Chiklikar. He was twice CM of Maharashtra from 2008 to 2010. He took charge as chief minister after the terror attack in Mumbai in 2008. In 2010, he had to step down following corruption charges in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam.

Ajit Gopchade

Ajit Gopchade’s candidature comes as a bigger surprise. A doctor, Gopchade hails from Nanded district and has enjoyed a long association with the RSS/BJP. Sources in the BJP confirmed that in 1992, Ajit Gopchade who had then completed his MBBS set out for kar seva at Ayodhya. He proactively participated in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. The BJP sources confirmed that Gopchade was amongst those who were present at the site on the day Babri Masjid demolition took place and he was amongst the group of youngsters who climbed the Mosque and photographed.

Gopchade is the head of the Maharashtra BJP doctors’ cell and was also named to the party committee for the G-20 Summit programmes. Known for his proactive role in organising public welfare medical camps and social service activities, the BJP had recommended Gopchade for the state Legislative Council polls in May 2020. Gopchade had even filed the nomination papers but at the eleventh hour, the party changed its decision and replaced his candidature with that of Ramesh Karad, a close confidante of the late Gopinath Munde and his daughter, Pankaja Munde.

Despite being dropped, Gopchade continued with his party activities. By nominating him to the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has acknowledged Gopchade’s contribution and conveyed a positive message to the Lingayat community to which he belongs. By nominating him to the Rajya Sabha, the BJP seems to have reached out to the Lingayat community in Maharashtra.

Medha Kulkarni

Medha Kulkarni’s Rajya Sabha nomination is BJP’s attempt to rehabilitate her politically and placate the unrest amongst Brahmins in Maharashtra’s Pune district. In 2019, Kulkarni, a professor who belongs to a dominant caste, was denied an Assembly ticket from the Kothrud constituency in Pune district though she won the seat after contesting for the first time in 2014. The BJP dropped Kulkarni, its sitting MLA, to make way for then state party president Chandrakant Kulkarni from Kothrud. The decision left Kulkarni shocked and she had made her displeasure known to party leaders and in public. She came to the party headquarters in Mumbai in tears but despite the humiliation, she continued and campaigned for Chandrakant Patil, who replaced her in the 2019 Assembly elections.

The move did not send the right message, however, especially amongst the dominant caste community which is a sizeable vote bank in Pune. This was evident when the BJP lost the Kasba Peth seat in the bypoll necessitated due to the demise of MLA Mukta Tilak. The BJP had fielded Hemant Rasane, an OBC candidate, to counter Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar but Rasane lost. By giving the Rajya Sabha seat to Kulkarni, the party seems to be in course correction mode.