A Maratha face, Murlidhar Mohol is BJP’s Pune candidate for Lok Sabha polls

Murlidhar Mohol, former city mayor and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to field him from Pune constituency.

The BJP chose 50-year-old Mohol over other aspirants including former city unit chief Jagdish Mulik, and RSS functionary Sunil Deodhar.

Through Mohol, BJP has fielded a Maratha face from Kothrud for seat which has sizeable population of the community along with Brahmins.

Last month, BJP had nominated Medha Kulkarni, a Brahmin and resident of Kothrud, for Rajya Sabha polls, making it clear that party may consider a non-Brahmin for Lok Sabha fray.

The four times corporator in Pune Municipal Corporator (PMC) may lock horns with Congress’ Arvind Shinde, a Maratha; or Ravindra Dhangekar, an OBC even as the party is yet to announce its nominee for the Pune seat.

Hailing from Mulshi tehsil on the western part of Pune district, Mohol’s father migrated to city with family in search of job and education for three children.

Mohol who has completed graduation also practised wresting in Pune and Kolhapur. At the early age of 12, Mohol also attended shakhas by RSS.

By 1996, Mohol entered political arena and became Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief for Pune.

His proximity to late BJP leader Gopinath Munde helped him get nomination for municipal elections from Kothrud, known to be a bastion of BJP with a sizeable Brahmin population which is party’s key voter base.

In 2002, Mohol contested PMC elections and became corporator for the first time. In the subsequent years, he served as not just as a corporator but standing committee chief and mayor of Pune between 2019 and 2022.

As mayor of Pune, Mohol gained the confidence of senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, and managed to bring them to Pune for various functions.

“It has been a phenomenal journey so far, and I thank everyone for this including party leadership and workers,” Mohol said after BJP announced names of 20 nominees from Maharashtra including Mohol.

Essentially an urban constituency with mix of cosmopolitan and local population spread over six assembly segments that are part of Pune Lok Sabha seat, party hopes that Mohol’s face goes well with constituency’s profile.

Earlier while speaking to Hindustan Times Mohol said he started career from the local level and is now keen to work in Delhi. Interestingly, he saw Lok Sabha membership as a bigger responsibility than being an MLA.

In Pune, even as party has preferred Mohol over other ticket hopefuls such as Mulik and Deodhar, there is unlikely to be any resistance from the two aspirants.

With Metro rail work, various initiatives under Smart City programme, BJP hopes that the party will be able to retain the seat, considered to be crucial for organisation as Pune is second most important city in the state after Mumbai in terms of generating employment.

The poor performance of Congress, absence of any tall leader in the opposition camp are some of the plus points for the BJP.

Interestingly, the trend of citizens moving from the central part of Pune to the outskirts has brought down Pune Lok Sabha constituency’s total electorate to 20.03 lakh from 20.24 lakh in 2019.