BJP appoints Maratha face as its next Maharashtra president: Who is Ravindra Chavan?

On Tuesday, outgoing BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule praised his successor. “He is a loyal and committed karyakarta and does whatever work is assigned to him wholeheartedly and with no questions. This makes him acceptable to all within the organisation as well as party leaders,” Bawankule said.

The 54-year-old Chavan who hails from the Maratha community made his foray into local body politics during his student days and was elected as a corporator in the Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation in 2000. He served as the chairperson of the local body’s standing committee. He first became an MLA in 2009 from Dombivali, which he has retained since. Between 2016 and 2019, he was a minister in the first Devendra Fadnavis government and held key portfolios such as Ports, Medical Education, Information Technology, and Food and Civil Supplies.

BJP insiders said Chavan’s Maratha roots would send a strong message to the community, which has been in the limelight over the past four years due to the quota agitation led by activist Manoj Jarange-Patil.

Following the split in the NCP and the Shiv Sena, with the latter leading to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Chavan served as the Minister for the Public Works Department (excluding public undertakings) between 2022 and 2024 in the Eknath Shinde Cabinet.

Chavan has said he draws inspiration from V D Savarkar and played a key role in getting the Hindutva ideologue’s bust installed at Port Louis in Mauritius. He was also instrumental in setting up the Maharashtra Bhakta Niwas at Ayodhya and the Maharashtra Bhawan in Jammu and Kashmir.

Last December, Chavan was entrusted with the responsibility of the party’s enrollment drive in the state. It ended up being a major success as he achieved the ambitious target of bringing 1.5 crore people into the BJP fold. “When the party is in power, organisational roles become very important due to the need for perfect coordination,” a senior BJP leader said, adding that Chavan’s style of working would ensure it happened.

He was also entrusted with the party’s affairs in the 39 Assembly seats of the Konkan region, seen to be the stronghold of the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray. Another leader pointed out that Chavan’s elevation signals the BJP’s intent to make deep inroads in the region, where the party bettered its performance in last year’s Assembly polls. “It also sends out a subtle message to Deputy CM Shinde, who wields influence across Thane, Kalyan, Dombivali and Navi Mumbai,” the leader said.

In the run-up to last year’s Lok Sabha polls, Chavan was one of the BJP leaders who opposed the candidature of Shrikant Shinde, Kalyan MP and Deputy CM Shinde’s son, citing the junior Shinde’s “high-handedness”.

Challenges and controversies

In his new role, Chavan’s biggest task will be building and strengthening the party’s organisation across the 355 talukas and 36 districts of the state. The “shat pratishat BJP (100% BJP)” goal is expected to hinge on his effort as the party aims to win the 2029 Assembly polls on its own without the need for allies.

During his stint as PWD Minister, Chavan ruffled feathers when Khed MLA Ramdas Kadam of ally Shiv Sena termed him as a “useless minister” to highlight the non-completion of the Mumbai-Goa highway. “Even Lord Ram returned after 14 years in exile, but the highway is showing no signs of completion,” Kadam said.

Conceding it was a daunting task to get the project expedited, Chavan replied, “Road works worth Rs 92,000 crore road stretching up to 23,886 km and 9,044 km of works related to bridges were completed during my tenure as minister.”

In 2016, he left the BJP red-faced after he claimed Abraham Lincoln had picked up a “piglet” from the drain and cleaned it. He was speaking in the context of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Fadnavis working to uplift Dalits.

As the video of his speech went viral, Chavan tried to control the damage and said his speech had been edited. “I have never spoken a word against the (Dalit) community,” he said.