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BJP chooses Manjusha for mayorship, favours organisationally grounded leader
BJP picks Manjusha Nagpure as the next mayor of Pune as she is an educated leader with long-standing ideological roots in Sangh Parivar
Pune: In choosing 46-year-old business management postgraduate Manjusha Nagpure as the next mayor of Pune, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has opted for a middle-class, educated leader with long-standing ideological roots in the Sangh Parivar, signalling its preference for a candidate seen as both organisationally grounded and politically non-controversial.
The mayor’s post in Pune was reserved this term for women from the general category, prompting several aspirants within the BJP to stake claim. The party’s city unit had forwarded the names of Ranjana Tilekar, Manasi Deshpande, Varsha Tapkir and Nagpure to the state leadership. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis cleared Nagpure’s name for the post. Party sources said Varsha Tapkir has been assured of a future opportunity.
Explaining the decision, BJP city unit president Dheeraj Ghate said the final call was taken by the party’s state leadership after considering the recommendations of the local unit. “Nagpure is a senior BJP worker, well-educated and associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She is serving her third term as a corporator and has sufficient experience of the general body as well as the standing committee, of which she was a member,” Ghate said.
Nagpure graduated from Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) in 1999, and did her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University in 2021.
Senior BJP leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party also took into account the political backgrounds of other aspirants.
“Most of the other contenders come from political families. Deshpande is related to minister of state Madhuri Misal, Tilekar is the mother of MLA Yogesh Tilekar, and Tapkir is related to MLA Bhimrao Tapkir. Nagpure does not come from a political family and has risen through the organisation,” a leader said.
Another BJP functionary said the party has consistently preferred to give key positions to its long-time workers rather than leaders who have entered the organisation from other parties. “While the BJP has welcomed leaders from outside, important organisational and constitutional posts in the civic body have largely been entrusted to original party workers over the past five years,” the leader said.
Leader of the House in the Pune Municipal Corporation, Ganesh Bidkar, said the selection process inevitably involved differing opinions. “There is only one post of mayor and several deserving aspirants. Everyone is free to express their views, but once the party takes a decision, all members abide by it,” he said.
Some party workers also pointed to Nagpure’s family background, noting that her husband, Deepak Nagpure, is a long-time RSS worker who has been involved in social work, particularly among Scheduled Tribe communities. “That organisational and social connect has also worked in her favour,” a BJP worker said.
Nagpure, known for her low-profile style, arrived by autorickshaw to file her nomination papers for the mayor’s post and left the civic office the same way, a gesture that her supporters said reflected her middle-class roots and grounded political approach.
