As Danve moves to Centre, BJP looks for new Maha president

With Maharashtra BJP president Raosaheb Danve joining the Union Council of Ministers, the state unit of the ruling party is likely to get a new face to lead it in the Assembly elections scheduled later this year.

BJP sources said a meeting of the state unit is likely to be held soon to decide Danve's successor.

"A decision will be taken in consultation with the central leadership of the party and the core committee in the state unit. Let the new national president be appointed first," a senior BJP leader said.

BJP national president Amit Shah, the Lok Sabha MP from Gandhinagar, has also been inducted in the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Danve, re-elected from Jalna in North Maharashtra for a fifth term, was Thursday inducted in the new Modi team as a Minister of State. He has been given the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution portfolio, which he handled earlier also as part of the first Modi government.

The 64-year-old BJP MP served as Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution from May 27, 2014 to March 5, 2015. He quit his ministerial post after being appointed state BJP president.

Danve replaced Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra BJP president after the latter became Chief Minister following the saffron party's victory in the October 2014 assembly polls.

In the just-concluded general elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine bagged 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The BJP won 23 of the 25 seats it contested, while Uddhav Thackeray-led party bagged 18 of the 23 constituencies where it had fielded candidates.

State ministers Chandrakant Patil (Revenue), Subhash Deshmukh (Co-operation) and Ranjit Patil (MoS Home), all hailing from the politically-significant Maratha community, are among the names being talked about in party circles as possible successor to Danve.