Despite buzz of a change, Dheeraj Ghate will continue as the Pune city chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the local body elections, slated for later this year, the saffron party stated in a list released on Tuesday.
Several former BJP corporators, including Srinath Bhimale and Ganesh Bidkar, had eyed the coveted post. Women leaders, including former corporators Varsha Tapkir and Aarti Kondhare, were also in the fray. However, the party maintained its trust in Ghate.
Reportedly, the BJP sought the opinion of its sitting and former MPs, MLAs and MLCs to decide the city unit chief.
Currently, from Pune, the BJP has a Union Minister and MP Murlidhar Mohol, Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni, state ministers Chandrakant Patil and Madhuri Misal, MLAs Hemant Rasane, Siddharth Shirole, Bhimrao Tapkir, Sunil Kamble, and an MLC, Yogesh Tilekar.
Who is Dheeraj Ghate?
Ghate, who hails from a family associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is among the most prominent Hindutva leaders in the city. He got his sister-in-law inducted into the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as a corporator in 2007 and 2012, as the seat in the Navi Peth ward was reserved for women. In 2017, he got elected to the civic body and was made the leader of the House in 2019, but was abruptly replaced the following year.
Ghate had aspired to contest the Assembly polls twice from Kasba Peth—first, in the bypoll held in 2023 after sitting MLA Mukta Tilak's death, and then in the 2024 polls. However, he failed to win the confidence of senior leaders on both occasions, and Hemant Rasane was picked.
He has also held the position of general secretary in the youth wing of the Pune BJP, general secretary in the Pune BJP unit, and secretary in the state BJP unit.
