The BJP central leadership has rightly picked up former State Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule to be the Maharashtra BJP president. He is the OBC leader and has deep roots among the downtrodden people and has tremendous organising capacities.He was tipped to be State BJP President when the first round of State Cabinet expansion took place recently when everyone was anxious to know who are being inducted from Vidarbha region.
Though Sudhir Mungantiwar is quite senior to Bawankule and there was no dispute, Bawankule was probably assured a honourable position in the State. As Energy Minister in Maharashtra , he did a commendable job and provided electricity connections in large numbers to the agriculture pumps.
But his luck ran out in 2019 Assembly Elections, when he was denied a ticket for Assembly poll from his Constituency and was virtually sidelined. He was given some responsibilities of the organisation and conducted tours across the state. Again he was fortunate to be nominated for the State Legislative Council.
There were also talks doing the rounds that he would be made Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Council to replace Pravin Darekar. But party did not disturb him as some case against him were going on and replacing him at this juncture would have sent the wrong message.
A humble leader, Bawankule has been on the forefront be it OBC morcha or party activities.. If he continued to hold the post till 2024 Assembly elections, he would have a say in ticket allotment to the sitting MLAs and also the aspirants from the workers in Constituency.
His biggest challenge is now coming when the State goes for elections of local bodies in a few months. BJP will have to put up a fight to dislodge Shiv Sena from the Mumbai civic body (BMC) and retain power in other cities like Nagpur.
…Joseph Rao- Senior Journalist
