Girish Mahajan: BJP's Mr Dependable Vying For His Seventh Win From Jamner (image: x.com/girishdmahajan)

Considered as the BJP’s troubleshooter and Mr. Dependable, Girish Dattatray Mahajan, currently serves as the rural development minister in the Eknath Shinde government. In the upcoming Assembly elections, the senior BJP leader is seeking his seventh win from Jamner assembly constituency in North Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district.

Mahajan belongs to the Gujjar community. He began his journey as a grassroots-level worker. During his college days, he actively associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and then slowly rose to the position of its Taluk President. His political career began when he became the Taluk President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP.

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From winning the Gram Panchayat election to becoming cabinet minister, Mahajan’s growth in the party has been swift. In 1995, he first got elected to the Maharashtra state assembly from Jamner. In the subsequent times, i.e., in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019 he maintained his stronghold in the assembly segment. In the 2019 election, Mahajan won the seat by defeating Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Sanjay Bhaskarrao Garud by a margin of 35,014 votes.

Besides his successive wins, Mahajan is known for his ability to carry out any task assigned to him by the party or the government. While Devendra Fadnavis was heading the government, Mahajan’s capability in handling situations like farmer protests or protests by Anna Hazare was widely appreciated.

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Mahajan’s rise was also at the cost of veteran politician Eknath Khadse. Both leaders hail from Jalgaon district; but when Mahajan rose in prominence, the latter’s political importance reduced. Though Khadse has been placed as the party’s OBC face, the corruption charges forced him to exit from the cabinet and then quit the BJP which paved the way for the growth of Mahajan.