First time MP from Pune Murlidhar Mohol sworn in as Minister of State

Of all the ministers taking oath on Sunday evening, Murlidhar Mohol was among the surprise inductees.

Despite being a first-time Member of Parliament from Pune, Mohol ticked all the other boxes when he was sworn in as a Minister of State in the Narendra Modi government.

“I didn’t expect to get birth as a minister. The BJP has given me big responsibility for which I thank the party and express gratitude towards all the leaders, said Mohol, slowly coming to terms. Mohol, fielded as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, defeated Congress’ Ravindra Dhangekar from Pune by around 1.25 lakh votes.  

Mohol is the third person from the city to join the Union cabinet, after Suresh Kalmadi of Congress and Prakash Javadekar of BJP. He is also the second Lok Sabha MP from Pune to become a union minister in nearly 30 years, following Kalmadi, since Javadekar was a Rajya Sabha member.  

“I was at Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi when I got a call from party president JP Nadda at around 9 am. I didn’t expect any such responsibility,” said Mohol. 

To many, Mohol’s rise is astonishing.  

He is the only Maratha leader from BJP in Maharashtra to have had ministerial birth especially when Maratha agitation has once again resumed in the state. The other Maratha sworn in on Sunday was Pratap Jadhav, an MP from Buldhana belonging to Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction). 

Mohol is also the only leader to be in the Modi government from Western Maharashtra, where the party’s stakes are high in the upcoming assembly polls, slated for November this year. In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, only two BJP members were elected from Western Maharashtra. Besides Mohol, another is Udayanraje Bhonsle, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, from Satara. 

Another factor that went in his favour was age as Mohol at 50 is among the youngest members in the Modi government. Party sources said that other factors that backed Mohol for being made minister were to keep a check on both NCPs, one led by Ajit Pawar and another by Sharad Pawar. 

The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has a strong presence in western Maharashtra with eight MPs in the state. At the same time, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is also a guardian minister for Pune and takes a keen interest in the politics of the city and district. Mohol’s rise as a minister would keep a check on Pawar’s interference in the city and district, noted the leader. 

Pune district has 21 assembly constituencies of which NCP during the 2019 assembly polls won 11 seats, BJP 9, and Congress 1. The party plans to expand its tally in the district in the forthcoming assembly polls by supporting leaders like Mohol, Chandrakant Patil, Harshavardhan Patil and Rahul Kool. 

“Ajit Pawar is an aggressive leader who often dominates others. We have seen this happening during district planning development committee meetings where the NCP chief diverted all the funds to areas under his party’s control,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity. 

Mohol, an RSS worker, was mayor of the city during the Covid-19 period when his work to control the outbreak was appreciated across the state. As mayor of Pune, Mohol gained the confidence of senior party leaders, including PM Modi and Amit Shah, and managed to bring them to Pune for various functions. 

His elevation also sends a message to other leaders within BJP who were either aspiring to contest polls from Pune or have in the past been at loggerheads. Former city unit chief Jagdish Mulik and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade were among the two leaders keen for a ticket while Medha Kulkarni, also from Kothrud. 

The four-time corporator in Pune Municipal Corporator (PMC) before becoming MP, Mohol hails from Mulshi tehsil in the western part of Pune district. 

Mohol who has completed graduation, also practised wrestling in Pune and Kolhapur. At the early age of 12, Mohol also attended shakhas by RSS. By 1996, Mohol entered the political arena and became Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief for Pune. 

“For me, this is a big day to see my son being sworn in as a minister,” said Mohol’s mother as she landed in Delhi before the oath-taking ceremony.