Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar BJP chiefs for Maharashtra & Mumbai

MUMBAI: With BMC elections slated for October, the BJP central leadership on Friday announced the appointment of Ashish Shelar as Mumbai unit president. It also appointed MLC Chandrashekhar Bawankule as state unit president, replacing Chandrakant Patil.
Shelar, who was hoping to be state unit president, replaces Mangal Prabhat Lodha, who is now a cabinet minister along with Chandrakant Patil in the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government. This is his second term as MLA from the Bandra West assembly constituency. He has also been a three-term councillor.
Bawankule was energy minister in the Fadnavis-led BJP-Sena government. He was denied a ticket for the 2019 assembly elections. He belongs to the influential Teli community (OBC) in Vidarbha. Denying him the assembly ticket for the 2019 elections had proved costly for the BJP. He is now an MLC.
The appointments have taken into account caste factors in the state. The BJP, which has been leading the demand for restoration of political reservation for the Other Backward Communities in local self-government bodies in the state, is hoping to reap rich dividends with an OBC leader leading the state unit. The 16% reservation for Marathas in jobs and educational institutions too has run into legal trouble, but the BJP in Maharashtra led by Devendra Fadnavis has managed to snatch the movement from the NCP. Shelar is a Maratha.
Shelar, known for his organisational skills, was Mumbai unit president in 2017 when the party contested the BMC elections on its own and won 83 seats, only one seat less than the Shiv Sena. This time it is aiming for a full majority on its own and wants to have its own mayor in the country's richest municipal corporation.
"Mumbai's next mayor will be ours," said Shelar, addressing a press conference shortly after his appointment.
The Sena, with whom the party was in alliance for more than 25 years and shared power in the BMC, has split. The BJP's fight for BMC is with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. The BJP has not only distanced itself from the Sena but also accused it of large-scale corruption in the BMC for the last 25 years. It is, however, silent on its role during the long alliance.
"We have been fighting against the corrupt practices in Mumbai for the last two decades...Mumbaikars are reeling under several issues owing to the corrupt practices -- the stalled coastal road project, the delayed car shed at Aarey, potholes, corruption in purchasing computers, delay in providing school materials to students. And we wish to get rid of these corrupt practices. All those who have favoured a few contractors and those who have received favours in return need to be kicked out of the corporation," he said.