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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Bihar’s huge gain, Maharashtra’s pause

Shadow cast over the national trajectories of several heavyweights including Fadnavis Mumbai: The sudden appointment of Nitin Nabin as the BJP’s national Working National President on December 14, 2025, has done more than just fill a leadership vacuum; it has recalibrated the internal power dynamics of the ruling party. While the 45-year-old Bihar minister’s elevation is being hailed as a masterstroke in generational transition, it has simultaneously cast a shadow over the national...

Bihar’s huge gain, Maharashtra’s pause

Shadow cast over the national trajectories of several heavyweights including Fadnavis Mumbai: The sudden appointment of Nitin Nabin as the BJP’s national Working National President on December 14, 2025, has done more than just fill a leadership vacuum; it has recalibrated the internal power dynamics of the ruling party. While the 45-year-old Bihar minister’s elevation is being hailed as a masterstroke in generational transition, it has simultaneously cast a shadow over the national trajectories of several heavyweights, most notably from Maharashtra. Nabin, a five-term MLA and a seasoned organisational hand, represents the “new guard” that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have spent years cultivating. By choosing a leader from Bihar—a state where the BJP is looking to fill a leadership void as ally Nitish Kumar nears the twilight of his career—the high command has signaled that the path to the top is reserved for those under 55 with deep grassroots roots. However, this “Bihar first” strategy has created an unexpected bottleneck for Maharashtra’s most prominent national aspirants. Block Fadnavis Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has long been the subject of “Delhi-bound” rumours. Despite his public assertions that he will remain in Maharashtra until 2029, insiders suggest his national ambitions were a poorly kept secret. Nabin’s appointment complicates this path significantly. At 55, Fadnavis is ten years Nabin’s senior. With Nabin now positioned to transition into the full-time President role by early 2026, the organisational “Top Spot” is effectively occupied for the foreseeable future. For Fadnavis, entering the national arena now means competing in a space where the leadership has already signaled a preference for younger, non-entrenched faces. “The appointment of a 45-year-old sends a message that the party isn’t just looking for experience; it’s looking for a long political runway,” noted a senior BJP strategist. Another senior BJP leader from Bihar highlighted the “Low Key” factor that might have helped Nabin in being elevated to the top slot. Another analyst said that the appointment of Nabin also suggests that the BJP leadership is unlikely to pay heed to the insistence from the RSS while devising the succession strategy within the party and in the government. This factor too goes against Fadnavis, the analyst feels. Waiting Game Another leader feeling the squeeze is BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde. Known as a prolific “troubleshooter” in Delhi, speculation was rife that a cabinet reshuffle would see Tawde move from the organisation to a ministerial post. Instead, the elevation of a younger leader to the Working Presidency suggests the “organisational refresh” may keep current secretaries in their administrative roles longer than anticipated. For Tawde, who successfully navigated from state-level sidelines to national relevance, the prospect of a high-profile cabinet berth now appears to be a “distant dream” in the current reshuffle cycle. The “Nabin Era” marks a departure from the traditional seniority-based hierarchy. Those hailing the feat as a masterstroke say that the BJP leadership has achieved multiple goals like neutralising factions and forced recalibration by promoting a leader who was not on the typical media “shortlist”. In Nabin’s appointment the BJP central leadership has bypassed the traditional power centers of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and pushed leaders like Fadnavis and Tawde to double down on their current roles rather than looking toward the capital, they say. As the party prepares for its plenary session in January 2026, the message to the rank and file is clear that the national arena is no longer a natural progression for state stalwarts, but a field of high-stakes, unpredictable selection.

Unrest within Mahayuti

Updated: Jan 21

Mahayuti

Mumbai: The state administration on Sunday stalled the appointments of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik districts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared the appointments before he left for Davos in Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum on Saturday. They are believed to have been stalled on behest of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the state in absence of the Chief Minister.


NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and BJP’s Girish Mahajan were entrusted with responsibilities of guardian minister for the Raigad and Nashik districts respectively, where Shiv Sena’s Bharat Gogawale and Dada Bhuse had staked claims. Gogawale is a first-time minister while, Bhuse had been the guardian minister of the district during previous government under Eknath Shinde.


Shiv Sena, NCP and BJP all the three constituents of Mahayuti have strong roots in both the districts. However, the Shiv Sena and the NCP had been particularly on loggerheads there. The Shiv Sena, which had been demanding the guardian minister’s post in Nashik district has managed to win only two assembly seats in the district where the NCP has Six and the BJP has Five MLAs. On the contrary, in Raigad the NCP has won only one seat while the Shiv Sena and the BJP both have Three MLAs each in the district.


Sunil Tatkare, MP from Raigad Lok Sabha constituency and the stat unit president of the NCP and father of Aditi Tatkare, had been the guardian minister of Raigad between 2004 and 2014. Gogawale had always been his political opponent before Tatkare joined the Mahayuti government under Ajit Pawar’s leadership in 2023. Gogawale claimed that all the Six Shiv Sena-BJP MLAs in the district had opined in his favour to be the guardian minister of the district and after the decision to appoint Aditi Tatkare was announced, his supporters resorted to violent protests. They burnt tyres in bid to stall traffic on highway in the district. Reacting to the developments, Tatkare said that the issue should be pondered over after CM Fadnavis returns from Davos on Saturday and settled amicably.


In Nashik Girish Mahajan had been the guardian minister of the district between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was the Chief Minister.


The post of guardian minister doesn’t have any constitutional mandate and is considered to be a political appointment. Guardian ministers head the district planning and development councils (DPDC) that control the funds for development works being carried out in the particular district. This control wields much of political power to the minister in that district whereby spreading the party in the district becomes much easier. This is the reason why the grass root politicians seem to be very sensitive to such appointments.


While Gogawale and Bhuse are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian ministers, some others like NCP’s Hasan Mushrif and BJP’s Pankaja Munde are unhappy about not being appointed as guardian district in their home districts of Kolhapur and Beed respectively. DCM Shinde is learnt to have gone to his ancestral village Dare in Satara district after the decision and BJP’s firefighters Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Girish Mahajan are expected to meet him there to try finding a way out of the issue.

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