Over the past decade Girish Mahajan has come be known as the most trusted aide of Devendra Fadnavis and an ace trouble-shooter for the BJP. He had been an MLA since 1995 and had been active in the politics since much before that. Yet, the meteoric rise of this fitness-freak leader in the state politics over the past decade is mesmarising.
Born in a Marathi Gurjar family, on May 17, 1960, in Jamner of Jalgaon district of North Maharashtra, Girish Dattatray Mahajan first came to political fore as a student activist on the dais of ABVP in 1978. As an active member of the students’ organization, he engaged in grassroots activities, including painting walls and distributing promotional posters. His dedication and leadership skills quickly earned him the position of Taluka President of ABVP.
Mahajan’s formal political journey began in the early 1980s when he became the Taluka President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. His first significant electoral success came in 1992 when he was elected to the Gram Panchayat of Jamner. This victory marked the beginning of a long and illustrious career in state politics.
In 1995, Mahajan was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time, representing the Jamner constituency. He had defeated former MLA Ishwarlal Jain who had a considerable clout over the district politics and hence Mahajan was hailed as a giant killer. He had received an insider’s help from within Jain’s camp and he boasts about it ever since then. After that victory, Mahajan has been re-elected from the constituency multiple times, hoping to continue with the seventh consecutive term as of 2024. His consistent electoral success is a testament to his strong connection with the people of his constituency and his effective leadership.
Within the BJP Eknath Khadse was the prominent state-level leader from the Jalgaon district. Mahajan remained underdog for a long time and after 2014 he got the chance he had been waiting for to carve out a space for himself in the state politics.
Mahajan was appointed as the Minister of Water Resources in the cabinet of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in 2014 and in 2016, he took the role of Minister of Medical Education. In 2022, under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, he was appointed as the Minister of Rural Development. But, his main role in the state politics remained outside the departments he handled. Under both the chief ministers, he remained a prominent negotiator with the Maratha activists. For Fadnavis he always remained a loyal aide whenever there were troubles within the party also. He gained political power by systematically wiping out the opposition from Dhule, Jalgaon and Nandurbar districts of North Maharashtra and has emerged as an undisputed leader of North Maharashtra.
コメント