The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday appointed state revenue minister Chandrakant Patil as Maharashtra’s party president; and five-term city legislator from Malabar Hill constituency and well-known developer Mangal Prabhat Lodha as the party’s Mumbai chief.

Patil replaces former state president and Union minister Raosaheb Danve, while Lodha replaces former city chief and state minister Ashish Shelar, both of who have served two terms.

“My heartfelt thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for reposing trust in me and appointing me as the state party chief,” Patil tweeted after the announcement.

Patil, a Maratha face of the BJP from western Maharashtra, is considered to be close to party chief and home minister Amit Shah.

The senior-most minister in the BJP-led government after Fadnavis, Patil will take charge of the state unit along with his ministerial portfolios – revenue, public works department and relief and rehabilitation.

He will now lead the state BJP, along with Fadnavis, in the upcoming assembly polls which are likely to be held in October. This appointment is a leg up for Patil, who will now been seen as the CM post contender. The move is being viewed within the BJP and political circles as setting up of an alternate power centre in the state.

Meanwhile, Danve met Modi on Tuesday in Delhi to tender his resignation. While announcing his resignation, he said, “I request the party to appoint a full time state president for strengthening the party organisation. I need to focus on my responsibilities as a minister and parliamentarian.”

Soon after Danve’s resignation, the party’s national general secretary Arun Singh issued a circular announcing the appointment of Patil and Lodha, which read: “BJP’s national president Amit Shah has appointed Chandrakant dada Patil as the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh BJP. The president has appointed Mangal Prabhat Lodha as the Mumbai city BJP president. These appointees will take charge immediately.”

Patil and Lodha trace their political careers with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Patil was a full-time worker with the ABVP from 1980 and served as the joint secretary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of the Kolhapur division from 1995 to 1999 before he joined BJP formally as the state secretary. His experience in ABVP and RSS is said to have honed Patil’s organsiational skills. It is also during his time in the RSS that he came in touch with Shah. In the past five years, in the Fadnavis government, Patil rose to number two position after the resignation of Khadse and until recently, had a controversy-free tenure as a state minister. However, recently, Patil faced serious allegations of wrong-doing in a decision pertaining to a 22-acre plot at Haveli in Pune. The Opposition had demanded his resignation in the monsoon session of the state legislature last month.

“He is one of the few state leaders now who is popular in the party cadre. Dada Patil is seen as someone who rose from simple beginnings. His father was a mill worker and he has climbed up the rungs in party leadership. Unlike Danve, Patil’s appointment definitely places him as a CM aspirant and he can be seen as a rival to Fadnavis now,” said a senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity.

The appointments of state and city chiefs were done ahead of the July 21 all-party meeting of the state BJP to discuss the strategy for the assembly polls and review preparations. All state party legislators, MPs, state functionaries will be present at the meeting, which is likely to be addressed by the working president of the party, JP Nadda.

First Published: Jul 17, 2019 01:06 IST