Ahead of the local body elections in Maharashtra, slated for later this year, the Pune unit of the BJP is set to get a new chief with a few former corporators in the race for the post.
The BJP had won the last three Lok Sabha elections in the city and managed to get its candidates elected on six of the eight seats in the Assembly elections.
Advertisement
The party had also emerged as the single largest party in the Pune Municipal Corporation elections in 2017. The PMC polls are pending since 2022 due to petitions related to reservations in civic elections being heard in the Supreme Court.
“The meeting to recommend a name for the new city unit chief was held recently. Opinions of the party office bearers were taken with the suggestion of three possible names for the post. The names will now be sent to the state unit for final decision,” said a BJP leader.
Among the frontrunners for the post are former corporators Srinath Bhimale, Ganesh Bidkar along with current city chief Dhiraj Ghate. Ghate and Bhimale were upset after being denied party tickets in the Assembly elections held last year.
Advertisement
Ghate had offered to quit the post, but the party leadership urged him to hold the post and promised him better opportunities in the future. Bhimale, too, was asked to wait for a better opportunity.
Women leaders who are being considered for the post include former corporators Varsha Tapkir and Aarti Kondhare.
The party has also taken the opinion of sitting and former MPs, MLAs and MLCs of BJP to decide the city unit chief.
From Pune, the BJP has a Union Minister and MP Murlidhar Mohol, Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni, state ministers Chandrakant Patil and Madhuri Misal, legislators Hemant Rasane, Siddhartha Shirole, Bhimrao Tapkir, Sunil Kamble and Yogesh Tilekar representing at the state and national level.
The manifesto was unveiled by Union minister and city MP Murlidhar Mohol and minister Chandrakant Patil 
Share
