3 minutes of readingBombayUpdated: Jan 19, 2026 08:32 pm IST
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ close aide and former Nagpur mayor and Legislative Council member Sandip Joshi announced his retirement from active politics early Monday morning through a detailed post on social media.
He began his Facebook post by saying, “…I now choose to take a step back!” (…aata mala thambaychay). Joshi said the decision was taken after deep thought.
In his letter, Joshi wrote that politics had always been for him a means of public service and not a quest for position or prestige. However, he expressed concern over increasing party switching, opportunism and intense competition for power, which he said worried not only voters but also committed party workers. “Even today I consider myself an ordinary BJP worker, but witnessing this situation, the idea that I should take a step back started taking firm roots in my mind and I convey the same through this letter,” he said.
Joshi, 55, said there was a need to make room for younger leaders. Acknowledging the role the Bharatiya Janata Party played in shaping his political career, he announced his decision while seeking forgiveness from senior leaders including Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Meanwhile, sources inside the party suggested that there had been discontent among some of Joshi’s closest aides after they were denied candidacy in the recent elections. Several officials from ward 16 had also resigned after non-local BJP workers were offered candidature.
talking to him indian expressBJP Nagpur city chief and former mayor Dayashankar Tiwari said, “The rumors about the internal conflict are baseless. There is nothing like that. Sandip ji still has many years ahead of him to work in social and public life. He should reconsider his decision. He has submitted his letter announcing his political retirement, but it has not been accepted yet. The decision whether to accept it or not is not up to us alone. As he is an MLC, the state executive will take a call So far he has not been given any acceptance. He has simply expressed his desire to take a step back. We will try to convince him that he should not distance himself from public life at that time.