State BJP drops ‘new,’ disgruntled leaders from committee

State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced the appointment of more than 1,200 members, including 16 vice presidents, 16 secretaries and six general secretaries.

Mumbai: The state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced a jumbo leadership team where the party has dropped some of its senior leaders who joined the party in the past few years.

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State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced the appointment of more than 1,200 members, including 16 vice presidents, 16 secretaries and six general secretaries.

“Some names have been dropped, but there are a few appointments yet to be done. The party is considering appointing MLAs, MPs and potential candidates for general elections as coordinators. The people who have not got a place in the committee today may be accommodated at a later stage,” said party spokesperson Keshav Upadhye.

Vice president Kripashankar Singh and Prasad Lad and secretary Akhilesh Chaube are among those who have been dropped from the new executive committee. Some of the hard-core party leaders, including Sunil Karjatakar and Babanrao Chaudhary too have been dropped from the committee. Legislators Pravin Darekar and Ram Kadam – who joined the BJP in the last few years – could not make their way through to the executive committee.

Some of the disgruntled leaders, like MP Raksha Khadse (daughter-in-law of Eknath Khadse) and MP Pritam Munde, sister of Pankaja Munde, have also been dropped from the post of secretary and vice president respectively. While Eknath Khadse is in NCP, the Munde sisters have been expressing their unhappiness with the state of affairs at the party for quite some time.

As per sources in the BJP, the party has ensured regional, caste-religious balance while appointing leaders from across the state.

Mumbai MLA Mihir Kotecha has been retained in the post of treasurer. Key leaders including union minister Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Raosaheb Danve, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, ministers Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, national secretary Pankaja Munde, national general secretary Vinod Tawde are among 264 special invitees.