Vinod Tawde, a Maharashtra BJP politician, has been named the party’s national general secretary. J P Nadda, the BJP’s president, announced the decision on Sunday. General secretaries, in particular, report directly to the party president. The revelations are significant in Maharashtra since Tawde was seen as the major adversary of Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis and was reportedly sidelined inside the party from 2014 to 2019. “The promotion of Tawde anywhere sends a bold message to Fadnavis, who has had a free hand in Maharashtra until now,” a part of the BJP claimed.
Tawde experienced a setback in 2019 when the BJP refused him an assembly seat from the Borivali constituency at the last minute. Sunil Rane took his position. Tawde was the MLA for the Borivali constituency at the time. Prior to his refusal of a ticket, then-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis stripped him of the vital portfolios of medical education and later school education. “In politics, nothing is permanent,” a senior BJP official remarked, demanding anonymity. The central leadership cannot be taken for granted.”
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Tawde, a seasoned politician from the Maratha community who was trained by the late Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan, was cautious in his assessment of the new post. “I will do my best in every given duty,” he stated, thanking the party and its leaders for their trust in him. “The new post is a significant prize and it comes with additional responsibility,” a close aide of Tawde said.
“It’s a tremendous step,” party officials observed, “since the central leadership has awarded Tawde with a prominent national role.” It’s also a rebuke to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had marginalised and insulted him.” Despite the fact that Tawde is not in charge of Maharashtra, he is expected to have a stronger voice in state politics. He gets along well with leaders from all parties, including the NCP, Congress, and Shiv Sena.
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Tawde (58), a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, began his political career as a student leader. In 1999, he became the party’s Mumbai president for the first time, making him the party’s youngest leader. From 1995 to 1999 and 2002 to 2011, he served as the state BJP general secretary. Tawde developed a name for himself in the party for his organisational abilities, but he was not a popular figure. In 2014, he ran for the first time in the assembly elections and won the Borivali seat. Tawde has previously served on the state legislative council three times, including as the opposition leader from 2011 to 2014.
He courted controversy over his educational qualification as a cabinet minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition. Tawde received his engineering degree from Pune’s Dnyaneshwar Vidyapeeth, which did not have AICTE approval, prompting the Congress and the NCP to challenge his engineering degree. Tawde, on the other hand, has always claimed that he did nothing illegal and that he received his degree properly.
