Mumbai BJP unit likely to get new president ahead of BMC polls

Highly placed sources in the BJP said, “At the internal meeting with top leadership, Shelar conveyed to the party that he would like to step down as the Mumbai BJP president.”

Shelar had earlier served as Mumbai BJP president from 2013 to 2019, before holding the office again from 2022.

He was inducted as a cabinet minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government in December 2024.

A senior party functionary requesting anonymity said, “The central and the state BJP units have made up their mind to appoint a new candidate for the Mumbai BJP president role. Several names are in the reckoning, including Amit Satam, Pravin Darekar, and Atul Bhatkhalkar.”

In July, the BJP formally appointed former minister Ravindra Chavan as its state president. The party, it has been learnt, is in the process of finalising candidates for the new team under Chavan.

A source said that with growing proximity between estranged cousins Uddhav Thackeray, chief of Shiv Sena (UBT), and Raj Thackeray, head of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, over the Marathi plank, the BJP wants to make sure it has a Marathi candidate heading the Mumbai BJP unit before the BMC polls. The source added that the party will do a balancing act by giving adequate representation to local North Indian and Gujarati leaders in the Mumbai team.

In the last BMC elections held in 2017, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena fought against each other despite being partners in the ruling coalition in the state. The Shiv Sena won 84 seats, two more than the BJP, which finished at 82. After the elections, the BJP gave outside support to the Shiv Sena to form the board at the BMC.