Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Raosaheb Patil Danve, who had been a supporter of the late Gopinath Munde, senior party leader, was appointed president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Maharashtra unit. The appointment is seen as a move to keep the powerful Munde camp in good humour.
Mr. Danve, 59, a Maratha face of the party, will succeed Devendra Fadnavis, who, during his two-year tenure, steered the State unit to a win in the Assembly election and was rewarded with the post of Chief Minister.
After Munde’s death in a car accident in New Delhi last June soon after taking charge as Rural Development Minister, a sympathy wave for his family ensured a record victory for his daughter Pritam Munde in the Lok Sabha by-election in October. The party sidestepped the clamour by Munde’s supporters to select his elder daughter and MLA, Pankaja Munde-Palve, as Chief Minister.
Closely associated with the late Pramod Mahajan and Munde, Mr. Danve is a four-time MP from Jalna in Marathawada and was a vice-president of the party before his elevation.
Mr. Danve, an agriculturist, began his political career at the panchayat level. He is credited with building the party apparatus and making Jalna district in the drought-prone Marathawada a BJP stronghold. He represented Bhokardan in the Assembly for two terms starting in 1990 and 1995 before the party fielded him in the Lok Sabha election in 1999. He has actively worked in the cooperative movement in Jalna, heading a network of sugar and milk cooperatives.
