Mumbai: Former Maharashtra minister Ravindra Chavan has been appointed as state-in charge of BJP’s organisational drive ‘Sangathan Parv’ ahead of the local body elections in the state. Chavan is also likely to be appointed as the Maharashtra BJP president. The announcement of it is likely to be done in January.
The elections to several local bodies in the state, including 29 municipal corporations, have been pending since March 2022 due to the unresolved issue of Other Backward Castes (OBC) reservation in court. However, the BJP has decided to start its preparations for the local body immediately after its massive victory in the state Assembly election.
Mr. Chavan, who is the fourth time MLA from the Dombivali assembly seat, began the review of ‘Sanghatan Parv’ on Monday. The initiative is aimed at increasing the party’s membership and its organisational rebuilding.
The BJP aims to enroll 1.5 crore people to the party through member registration in Maharashtra. The Mahila Morcha and Yuva Morcha are targeting registration of 25 lakh members each across the state. Other fronts of the party have to register five lakh members each, while cells have the responsibility of registering at least two lakh members.
Mr. Chavan is also expected to take over as the Maharashtra BJP president next month. The current state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who led the BJP’s campaign in the Assembly election, has been inducted in the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet. Mr. Chavan, who was the minister in the previous Eknath Shinde government, has been dropped from the state cabinet.
“Mr. Chavan was told by the party that he will have to lead the party organisation. Therefore he was not included in the cabinet. The onganisational elections are expected to be held after the party’s state conclave which will begin on January 12,” a BJP insider said.
Earlier, Mr. Bawankule had also said that BJP’s organisational elections will be held in January. The party has planned to elect its new presidents of all district and tehsil units by the month end and after that, a new state unit president will be elected.
