Check list of BJP leaders inducted into Maharashtra Cabinet Mumbai News

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, 65
Constituency: Shirdi
Revenue Minister in previous Govt

A seasoned politician who has worked in the cooperative sector, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil has his roots in rural Maharashtra. After four decades with the Congress. Vikhe-Patil joined the BJP in 2019. In the Eknath Sinde-led coalition government, he got the second largest revenue portfolio after dairy and animal husbandry. He has represented the State Legislative Assembly uninterruptedly since 1995, standing as an MLA for the seventh consecutive term. He has held dozens of ministries including Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, School Education, Ports, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Marathi Language (Language), Earthquake, Relief and Rehabilitation and OBC. Vikhe-Patil was also the Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2019.

Chadrakant Patil, 65
Constituency: Kothrud

Senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil who advised the RSS started his career with his student body, ABVP and joined the BJP in 2004. A low-profile leader, he is considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In 2019, Patil contested and won the assembly elections from Kothrud – a seat he retained until 2024. During 2014-2019, he earned the number two position in the Fadnavis government, holding several important departments including PWD, Revenue, Agricultural Assistance and Marketing. In the Eknath Sinde-led government, he was made the Minister of Higher and Technical Education. Patil also became the state president of the BJP from July 2019 to August 2022.

Girish Mahajan, 64
Constituency: Jamner

Considered a “trouble-shooter” in the party, seventh-term MLA Girish Mahajan started his political career from the Gram Panchayat. He also worked in ABVP. During the first tenure of the Devendra Fadnavis government, Mahajan was given additional charge of the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Medical Health. In the Eknath Shinde-led government, Mahajan held another important portfolio of the Ministry of Rural Development. Over the years he made a place for himself as a close confidant of Fadnavis. Whether it was the Maratha movement or persuading Eknath Shinde to join the Mahayuyi government as deputy chief minister, Mahajan played an important role as a BJP emissary.

Ganesh Naik, 74
Constituency: Airoli

Six-time MLA Ganesh Naik started his career in the Shiv Sena in the early 1990s when he made his electoral debut in the assembly elections. In 1999, Naik switched allegiance from the then undivided Shiv Sena to the newly formed NCP led by Sharad Pawar. He gained importance in the party and became a minister in the Congress-NCP government. He has held the Ministry of Labour, Excise and Environment. He was famous for the junta darbar, a concept where people thronged his room with their grievances and affairs. It was in 2019 that Naik joined the BJP along with his son and 50 corporators of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. He successfully contested the 2019 and 2024 assembly elections on a BJP ticket.

Mangal Prabhat Lodha, 69
Constituency: Malabar Hills

Real estate veteran-turned-politician Mangal Prabhat Lodha has risen to the right wing from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad to consolidate his position as a cabinet minister in the Mahayuti government. He represents the high-profile constituency of Malabar Hills in south Mumbai. The fifth-term MLA made his electoral debut in 1995 and successfully contested from the same constituency. In the Eknath Shinde-led government, he was the Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship where he initiated sweeping reforms to drive youth employment by linking skill training with industry demand, creating a strong supply and demand value chain. A politician known for his few words, Lodha has always been a valued member of the BJP in Maharashtra.

Jayakumar Rawal, 49
Constituency: Sindhkheda

Fifth term MLA Jayakumar Rawal has managed to hold the constituency uninterruptedly from 2004 to 2024. Starting politics with BJP, he has climbed the ladder from Yuva Morcha leader and general secretary to minister. In 2016, Rawal was made Minister of Tourism, Employment Guarantee Scheme and Food and Drug Administration. As a minister, he had objected to the depiction of Rani Padmavati on screen. Rawal, a Rajput, then wrote to the Central Board of Film Certification demanding that objectionable aspects be removed from the film.

Pankaja Munde, 45
MLC

The National Secretary of the BJP played an important role in mobilizing the OBC votes through his rallies in the Assembly elections. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Pankaja lost from her home constituency Beed. In July 2024, he was made a member of the state Legislative Council (MLC), marking his return to politics in Maharashtra. Pankaja, who has carved out a niche for herself, often criticized for her outspokenness and leaders, is seen as the OBC face of the BJP in the Marathwada region. In 2009, he made his electoral debut from the Parli Assembly seat and won. In 2014, she became a Cabinet Minister with two important portfolios of Rural Development and Women and Child Welfare. The defeat from Parli in the 2019 assembly elections was a body shock. A year later, she was transferred to Delhi as national secretary in BJP president JP Nadda’s team and given charge of Madhya Pradesh.

Atul Save, 60
Constituency: Aurangabad East

The three-term BJP MLA from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad East) came into limelight for his pivotal role in the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections. In the 2024 assembly elections, Saveh overrode strong communal polarization and defeated AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jalil from Aurangabad East, achieving a hat-trick in 2014, 2019 and 2024. In the Eknath Shinde government, he was entrusted with important portfolio support. After Nepal Communist Party (NCP) joined the coalition in 2023, he had to give up his support. Instead he was given the Ministry of Housing. In June 2019, Save was made Minister of State (MoS) for the Department of Industries and Mines for the first time.

Ashok Uike, 60
Constituency: Ralegaon

Senior tribal leader Ashok Uike has played an important role in getting BJP a foothold in the tribal areas of Vidarbha region. As president of the Scheduled Tribes Front, which he led from July 2020 to July 2023, Uike worked to reach out to the right wing in tribal areas. He contested the assembly elections for the first time in 2014 from Ralegaon in Yavatmal district and won. In subsequent elections in 2019 and 2024, Uike maintained the BJP’s ascendancy against the Congress in the tribal belt. During Fadnavis’s first tenure, he was briefly made tribal affairs minister.

Ashish Shelar, 52
Constituency: Bandra West

The Bandra boy of the BJP has played an important role in strengthening the organization in Mumbai. As the Mumbai BJP president, he helped the party gain electoral gains in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Shelar first contested assembly elections from Bandra West in 2014. A member of the BJP’s core committee, he first became a minister for a short period from June 2019 to November 2019. Shelar started as a corporator in the BMC before switching to a legislative role as an MLC from 2012 to 2014. His area of ​​focus is related issues. to Mumbai.

Shivendra Singh Bhosale, 51
Constituency: Satara

In the 2024 assembly elections, Shivendra Raje Bhos won the Satara assembly seat for the fifth consecutive term as a BJP candidate. He joined BJP from NCP in 2019. Starting his politics with the undivided NCP led by Sharad Pawar, the heir to the royal family has been a low-profile leader confining his work to Satara in western Maharashtra. A descendant of the great warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Bhosale is also a cousin of Udayanaraje Bhosale – BJP’s Satara Lok Sabha MP, also of royal lineage. He contested the first assembly elections in 2004 as an NCP candidate. He won as NCP MLA in 2009 and 2014. He joined the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In the last two elections, he successfully contested as a BJP candidate.

Jayakumar Gore, 49
Constituency: People

Not from the RSS-BJP family, Gore left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019. He easily won the 2019 assembly elections on a BJP ticket. In 2014, Gore contested as an independent candidate from Mann in Satara district and managed to survive the then powerful Modi wave. The three-term MLA, who has served at lower levels, has now been rewarded with a Cabinet berth.

Sanjay Savkare, 55
Constituency: Bhusawal

Bhusawal constituency in Jalgaon district is considered a stronghold of BJP. After joining the party in 2014, Savkare has successfully represented the constituency in 2014, 2019 and 2024. He started his political career with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and contested the 2009 elections from the party. However, over the last 10 years, Savkare has been working to ensure organizational growth of the BJP as per the directives of the state leadership.

Nitesh Rane, 42
Constituency: Kankavali

After starting his political career in the Congress, it’s a big political shift for Rane as a young fiery Hindutva face in the right-wing BJP. Son of former Union Minister Narayan Rane, Nitesh Rane worked alongside his father in the Konkan region till 2018. He was also active in Swabhimani Sangathan, an independent organization founded by Rane senior after leaving the Congress in 2017. Nitesh contested the elections in 2014. He won as a Congress candidate from Kankavali. Five years later, father and son joined the BJP. In 2019 and 2024, Nitesh won the Kankavali seat easily and has been leading mass Hindu community protests against “love, land and vote jihad” across Maharashtra.

Akash Phundkar, 41
Constituency: Khamgaon

The three-term MLA from Khamgaon in Buldhana district has been continuously maintaining the height of the party in this seat. Akash, son of BJP president late Pandurang Phundkar alias Bhausaheb Phundkar, had to fight hard to make his position against the Congress. His late father Bhausaheb Phundakar, who was close to the late Gopinath Munde, was a founding member of the BJP. Akash Phundkar first got a ministerial post while his father served in the Fadnavis government in 2014-2019.