India, Nov. 6 -- In a key organisational shake-up ahead of the upcoming local body elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Pune MP and Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol as the party's in-charge for Pune district. The move signals the party's growing confidence in Mohol's leadership and effectively places him above senior leader and Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil in the district's political hierarchy.

The appointment, announced by BJP state president Ravindra Chavan on Wednesday, gives Mohol charge of both the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations, as well as the wider district. Political observers view this as a clear signal that the party has chosen Mohol to be its leading face in Pune, a role ...