Chandrakant appointed as BJP Maharashtra President after Raosaheb resigns

Bhartiya Janata Party Maharashtra President, Raosaheb Patil Danve, has resigned from his post on Tuesday, according to several media reports. In his place, Chandrakant Patil has been appointed as the new President of BJP's Maharashtra unit.

Chandrakant Patil appointed as the President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Maharashtra. pic.twitter.com/Qoa8R3VBqX

— ANI (@ANI) July 16, 2019

Danve, a school pass-out, started his activist life as a village Sarpanch and gradually came to be considered as an important grassroots leader who rose up the ranks to become an MLA twice, then MP five times, a Minister in Maharashtra, and also served for one year as Minister of State in the first term of Modi.

After the BJP-Shiv Sena took power in Maharashtra in October 2014, then state party President Devendra Fadnavis was elected Chief Minister after stepping down as the party chief in the state. The hunt for a suitable BJP head in Maharashtra zeroed in on Patil Danve, who offered to quit his post in the center to spearhead the BJP in the state.

Born on March 18, 1955, the Maratha leader became only the second BJP leader after Suryabhan Vahadane-Patil to hold the post of party chief while being a Lok Sabha member. His appointment also balanced the crucial caste factor in the state with a Brahmin (Fadnavis) as the Chief Minister.

Under Patil Danve's leadership, the BJP grew in Maharashtra's rural areas, consolidated itself in urban centers and scored big in several local elections. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 of the 48 seats while ally Shiv Sena got 18 seats.