26 August,2025 08:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Sanjeev Shivadekar
Newly appointed Mumbai BJP President Ameet Satam. Pic/PTI
In a move that sets the stage for Mumbai's fiercest civic battle in years, the BJP has appointed three-term Andheri West MLA Ameet Satam as its new Mumbai unit president. Known for his relentless focus on civic issues and corruption, Satam takes charge from Ashish Shelar at a crucial time, just months ahead of the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, where control of Asia's richest civic body and its Rs 74,000 crore annual budget is up for grabs.
On Monday, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, along with Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan, announced that the three-term MLA from Andheri West will replace Ashish Shelar as the city unit chief. The move comes just ahead of crucial BMC elections, expected by late 2025 or early 2026. Satam has been vocal about corruption in road works, delays in the Gokhale bridge project, and redevelopment hurdles around the airport caused by height restrictions, among other civic concerns.
Fadnavis said the party had performed well under Shelar's leadership in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. "As Shelar now has ministerial responsibilities, the decision to appoint a new president for the Mumbai unit was taken by the state party unit," he explained. Expressing confidence in Satam's leadership, Fadnavis added, "BJP will continue to grow stronger, especially in the BMC elections."
After the announcement, Satam interacted with the media. Asked whether the BJP would have its own mayor in the BMC, he replied, "We will contest as a united front. Mahayuti will have its mayor." Currently, Maharashtra is governed by the Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, Ajit Pawar-led NCP, and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
On questions about alliances, Satam said, "For BJP, the priority is addressing issues of the common man. The BJP has always worked to provide relief to citizens, not just to claim posts." Since 1992, Shiv Sena has held control of the BMC. Until 2017, the BJP was its ally. That year, the alliance broke, and both contested separately. Uddhav Thackeray's Sena won 84 seats while BJP secured 82, just two short of Sena's tally, in the 227-member House.
After the 2022 split in Shiv Sena engineered by Eknath Shinde, more than 53 of Sena's 84 corporators shifted to his faction. With Uddhav Thackeray working hard to retain power in the civic body, the BJP-Shinde Sena combine is determined to wrest control of the cash-rich BMC.
