BJP names Ravindra Chavan as state unit chief, with an eye on MMR
MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named its Dombivli legislator and a Maratha leader Ravindra Chavan as the state president, seeking to hold sway on the crucial Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The party's present state president and revenue minister Chandrashekhar Banwakule made this announcement at a meeting in Ahilyanagar recently, although union home minister Amit Shah had also indicated the move in Nanded last week.
'A formal announcement is expected from the party's leadership in next few days,' Bawankule said at the function in Ahilyanagar.
MMR is crucial to BJP's expansion plans for Maharashtra. The area is the state's biggest urban conglomeration with eight municipal corporations. It has about 67 of 288 assembly seats, and 11 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. For years, the area was dominated by Shiv Sena; and now a few years after the split in the party, BJP is looking to establish its control here.
In last year's assembly election, BJP won 30 out of 67 seats in MMR while Shiv Sena won 17 and NCP 3, which adds up to 50 seats in the region for the ruling Mahayuti. As part of its expansion plans, BJP is aiming to win most of the municipal corporations, including Mumbai.
'It would mean not just reducing Uddhav Thackeray's political clout further but also keeping Shinde-led Shiv Sena in check,' a senior minister from the party told HT. Chavan, a four-time legislator from Dombivli is expected to play a significant role in propelling the party's agenda.
'Chavan is an urban leader who has a good understanding of ground level politics in the Konkan belt, especially Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts. The party is in direct contest with both factions of Sena in this region. Chavan's aggressive approach will be handy while combating both Sena factions,' said a BJP minister.
Shinde, who played a significant role in maintaining an undivided Sena's hold over the MMR, is keen to occupy the erstwhile Shiv Sena's space. He is backed by a strong control over Thane district and is also recruiting aggressively, poaching heavily from Sena (UBT).
The next few months in the run up to the civic polls will see an intense political battle not just between the ruling Mahayuti and Opposition parties but also within the ruling alliance. Chavan's major opportunity in his political career so far may also turn out to be a test of his skill as a leader.
Chavan was not available for a comment to HT.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Wolf scare back in Bahraich, two-year-old boy mauled to death
A two-year-old boy was mauled to death by an animal at Gadamar Kala village of Mahasi subdivision in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district in the early hours of Tuesday, bringing back a sense of scare in the area which reeled under dozens of wolf attacks last year, officials said. While the child's family and local residents claimed that a wolf attacked the child, forest officials said they would confirm the type of animal involved in the incident only after receiving a DNA report from the Wildlife Institute of India's forensic laboratory in Dehradun. Khushboo, the mother of the victim, Ayush, told reporters that she saw the wolf taking away her son. 'Last night, as we lay in the verandah of our house, wolves came and took away my child. I saw the wolf. We tried to chase it, but in vain. In the morning, Ayush's body was found in a sugarcane field,' she said. The incident comes nearly 10 months after a pack of wolves terrorised 35 villages of Mahasi, killing eight people, mostly children, and injuring at least 18. 'We have sent a sample of a chewed body part to the laboratory in Dehradun for testing,' said Bahraich Divisional Forest Officer Ajeet Kumar Singh. Forest department officials rushed to the spot after receiving information that an animal, claimed to be a wolf, entered a house at Gadamar Kala and took away a baby. The child's body was later found a short distance from the house, with his limbs partially eaten. The forest department deployed a drone to survey the area and claimed to spotted two jackals in the vicinity. The animals' pug marks were also found, they said. 'The picture will become clear after we receive the laboratory report,' said Singh. Seven teams were formed to track and capture the animal involved in the attack, officials said. Forest officials are using thermal camera drones and other methods, and have also launched an awareness campaign to educate locals on safety precautions. The residents, however, expressed anger over the forest department's reluctance to confirm the involvement of a wolf and a 'lack of urgency in capturing the animal'. 'This is the third incident in the past two months involving a wolf attack. In two of these cases — including the one early this morning — infants have died. In the third incident, family members woke up in time and managed to prevent the attack. Forest officials are not taking the matter seriously and are trying to dismiss it by hinting, without any evidence, that a jackal was involved,' said Sureshwar Singh, BJP MLA from Mahasi. Locals claim that the presence of a jackal in the area is unlikely. 'If the forest department does not take the matter seriously and catch the animal, the situation could become as bad as it was last year,' said the MLA. Last year, during a two-month-long 'Operation Bhediya', the forest department captured six wolves believed to be responsible for the deaths of eight people. Initially, officials had blamed a jackal, but later, based on drone footage and images captured using thermal cameras, it was confirmed that wolves were behind the attacks. Also, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had in September 2024 conducted an aerial survey of the area and met families of those who lost their lives in the wolf attacks. — PTI inputs
Indian Express
36 minutes ago
- Indian Express
ACB summons Sisodia, Jain in case linked to construction of classrooms
THE ANTI-CORRUPTION Branch (ACB) of Delhi government on Tuesday issued summonses to former AAP ministers Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain over alleged corruption to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms in government schools when their party was in power. While Jain has been summoned to the ACB office on June 6, Sisodia has been asked to appear on June 9. On April 30, the ACB had registered an FIR against the two AAP leaders in connection with alleged corruption in the construction of 12,748 classrooms or semi-permanent structures during the previous AAP government's tenure. While Sisodia held the finance and education portfolios in the AAP government, Jain was the minister of health, industries, power, home, urban development, and PWD. Following the summonses, AAP said in a statement, 'This is not a scam by any stretch — it's a calculated political ploy by the BJP. They are weaponizing institutions to attack AAP leaders and create a false narrative… When Aam Aadmi Party held power in Delhi, the BJP systematically defanged the ACB to strip it of any real authority. Today, they are using the same weakened institution as a tool to target AAP leaders and further their own agenda.' Joint Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma, who heads the ACB, had earlier confirmed the registration of the FIR. 'The Chief Technical Examiner's report of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) pointed out several anomalies in the project, and the report was kept under the carpet for about three years. The case was registered after permission under section 17-A Prevention of Corruption Act was received from the competent authority,' he said. In 2019, BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Harish Khurana and Neelkant Bakshi had filed a complaint alleging financial irregularities in the construction of classrooms in government schools in three zones. According to the complaint, the construction cost per room came out to approximately Rs 24.86 lakh, exponentially higher than the roughly Rs 5 lakh it takes for similar constructions in Delhi. They also alleged that the project was awarded to 34 contractors, most of whom were associated with the AAP. According to ACB officials, 12,748 semi-permanent structures were supposed to be built at a cost of Rs 1,200 per sqft but the cost shot up to around Rs 2,292 per sqft during construction. This cost escalation, which BJP leaders allege was a result of corruption, is now being probed by the ACB. Earlier, the CVC's report in 2020 said there were violations of government financial rules, CPWD manuals, and tendering processes. These include awarding contracts to firms allegedly associated with the ruling party without proper bidding, escalating project costs by 17% to 90% without inviting fresh tenders, engaging private consultants without following due procedure and duplication of work, execution of work without demand from schools, and mismanagement of timelines and funds, the report said. Sisodia and Jain were arrested by the CBI and ED in unrelated cases in the past and are currently out on bail. While Sisodia was arrested in the Delhi excise policy case, Jain was arrested in a money laundering case. Sakshi Chand is working as an Assistant Editor with the Indian Express. She has over a decade of experience in covering crime, prisons, traffic and human interest stories. She has also covered the communal clashes in Kasganj, Aligarh, Trilokpuri riots as well as the North-East Delhi riots. Apart from being a journalist, she is also a National level basketball player and a coach. Before joining the Indian Express, she was working for The Times of India. ... Read More
Time of India
38 minutes ago
- Time of India
Dissmissed Beed cop Ranjit Kasale booked again for an objectionable post, this time against Fadnavis
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Dismissed sub-inspector Ranjit Kasale, who is already embroiled in several criminal cases, has been slapped with additional charges from the Beed cybercrime branch for allegedly posting derogatory and defamatory content against Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on social media platforms. The latest FIR, registered on Monday, stems from a complaint lodged by BJP IT cell's state co-convenor Sambhaji Surve. The complaint alleges that Kasale published content deemed defamatory to Fadnavis and of an objectionable nature, resulting in police intervention. Police have applied sections 197 and 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) alongside section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. These new allegations are expected to intensify the legal challenges for the former policeman, who is currently under police detention for a different case. A Mumbai crime branch team recently caught Kasale in Delhi and transported him to Mumbai for questioning. Following his court appearance before a magistrate, he received two days of police custody. This detention concluded on Monday, June 2, after which he appeared before the Fort court. Earlier, Kasale faced arrest for allegedly attempting to create communal discord and making offensive remarks against elected representatives. The current case adds to a growing list of complaints against him. Before these events, police had registered two separate FIRs against Kasale at Beed's Shivajinagar police station and the district's cyber police station, following complaints from social activist Mohan Aghav. Additionally, Kasale faces charges in Mumbai for similar violations involving provocative social media content directed at political figures and communities. According to police sources, Kasale's online activities demonstrate consistent behaviour aimed at causing discord and damaging the reputations of public officials. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Dismissed sub-inspector Ranjit Kasale, who is already embroiled in several criminal cases, has been slapped with additional charges from the Beed cybercrime branch for allegedly posting derogatory and defamatory content against Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on social media platforms. The latest FIR, registered on Monday, stems from a complaint lodged by BJP IT cell's state co-convenor Sambhaji Surve. The complaint alleges that Kasale published content deemed defamatory to Fadnavis and of an objectionable nature, resulting in police intervention. Police have applied sections 197 and 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) alongside section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. These new allegations are expected to intensify the legal challenges for the former policeman, who is currently under police detention for a different case. A Mumbai crime branch team recently caught Kasale in Delhi and transported him to Mumbai for questioning. Following his court appearance before a magistrate, he received two days of police custody. This detention concluded on Monday, June 2, after which he appeared before the Fort court. Earlier, Kasale faced arrest for allegedly attempting to create communal discord and making offensive remarks against elected representatives. The current case adds to a growing list of complaints against him. Before these events, police had registered two separate FIRs against Kasale at Beed's Shivajinagar police station and the district's cyber police station, following complaints from social activist Mohan Aghav. Additionally, Kasale faces charges in Mumbai for similar violations involving provocative social media content directed at political figures and communities. According to police sources, Kasale's online activities demonstrate consistent behaviour aimed at causing discord and damaging the reputations of public officials.
