Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Danve has been appointed as State president of the BJP in Maharashtra.

His appointment was announced on Tuesday afternoon by party president Amit Shah.

Danve, 59, replaces Devendra Fadnavis, who was holding dual charge as president of the BJP State unit and Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Hailing from Jalna in central Maharashtra, Danve has been a sitting MP from the same constituency since 1999.

He is part of the inner team of the State BJP and used to be a close confident of late senior BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan.

Starting his political career from the panchayat level, Danve has been an MLA from Bhokardan Assembly constituency twice and has won the last four parliamentary elections in a row. He has been actively associated with the cooperative movement in Maharashtra and has also been a former vice-president of the party in the State.