Ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections slated later this year, the ruling BJP Monday appointed its 49-year MLA Ameet Satam as the new Mumbai party president.
Satam is the third-term BJP legislator from Mumbai’s Andheri West constituency. Known for his aggressive politics, Satam belongs to the Maratha community.
With Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his once estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the MNS chief, making “Marathi asmita” (Marathi pride) their main plank for the upcoming local body polls, the BJP has chosen its key Marathi face to lead the Mumbai party unit in the BMC polls.
The change of guard in the Mumbai BJP was necessitated following the completion of the outgoing chief Ashish Shelar’s three consecutive terms. Shelar is now also a minister who was inducted in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government following the BJP-led Mahayuti’s resounding win in the November 2024 Assembly polls.
In July this year, the BJP had appointed Ravindra Chavan as the Maharashtra BJP president, who had been serving as its working president since December 2024.
The immediate challenge facing Satam is the high-stakes BMC polls dubbed as the biggest battle among the upcoming civic body polls across the state. The elections to the BMC, which had been under the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena’s rule for three decades, have become a prestige fight for the BJP leadership at the state as well as central levels.
Satam graduated from Mithibai College, and did a management course in personnel from Mahatma Gandhi Mission Institute of Management Studies & Research affiliated to Mumbai University in May 2000.
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Before joining active politics, Satam had worked as a human resource professional for four years.
Shelar, who has worked closely with him, said, “Satam’s appointment marks the beginning of a new chapter. He has served at every level from corporator to MLA, and worked at grassroots. He held charge of Mumbai Yuva Morcha and for a long term as general secretary of the Mumbai BJP.”
In 2014, Satam contested, successfully, from the Andheri West seat as the BJP nominee. He also clinched the subsequent polls in 2019 and 2024 from the same constituency.
Satam has been a close aide of Chief Minister Fadnavis, who lauded him, saying “Ameet Satam is well-versed with Mumbai and its issues. He knows how to find solutions to the problems and implement them.”
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Satam has “shouldered various responsibilities as an aggressive leader”, Fadnavis said, adding that he would help the BJP “break its previous record of 82 seats in the BMC to emerge as the winner in the coming polls”.
In the 2017 BMC elections for 227 wards, the then undivided Sena led by Uddhav had won a tally of 84 seats, which increased to 97 with the support of Independents and MNS corporators.
Following his appointment, Satam thanked senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying that along with infrastructure, mobility, and housing, he would give priority to Mumbaikars’ safety, especially in light of “attempts to change the city’s identity”.
“The safety and security of Mumbaikars is our top priority. While the city continues to develop, our focus will be on ensuring the well-being and protection of its citizens. We will work towards hoisting the Mahayuti’s saffron flag atop the BMC and ensuring that a Mahayuti mayor is elected,” he said.
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Satam highlighted infrastructure milestones achieved since 2014 under Fadnavis’s leadership, including the Coastal Road, Atal Setu, Metro projects, Navi Mumbai International Airport, CCTV network, and housing for slum dwellers and lower and middle-income groups.
“Mumbai is already on a transformative path with the holistic development under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis ji, and we will work to take it forward,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on “corruption in the BMC from 1997 to 2022”, Satam said, “The BJP will make every effort to free the civic body from the clutches of corruption and ensure transparency and accountability in civic administration. BJP workers will reach out to every Mumbaikar’s door, seeking their blessings for a development-oriented, corruption-free administration aligned with PM Modi’s vision and led by Fadnavis.”
In the state Assembly, Satam has been known for vigorously raising the concerns of Mumbaikars over roads, illegal hawkers, water and infrastructure.
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Among the Mumbai projects that Satam has pushed includes the LED street lights, vertical garden, development of 25 public spaces, beach front development, and conservation of the 65-million-year old monolith Gilbert Hills.