Ashish Shelar new chief whip of BJP in Maha Legislature

The BJP legislative party on Sunday appointed Ashish Shelar as the party's chief whip in the Maharashtra Legislature. It also appointed Devayani Farande as the party whip in the Legislative Assembly. The party made the announcement on Sunday evening, on the eve of the winter session of the state legislature.

Shelar, who is former Mumbai unit president of the BJP, won the October 21 Assembly election from Bandra West constituency. This is his second term as an MLA. Shelar was credited for BJP's giant strides in the 2017 polls to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Shiv Sena citadel. BJP had won 82 seats in the fiercely-fought BMC polls, just two seats behind the Sena. In this year's Assembly election, the BJP had denied ticket to Raj Purohit, its former chief whip in the Assembly.