In 1919 Marathi Congressman dominated provincial politics from the capital city of Nagpur. But subsequently they started dividing. The non-Brahmins and Harijans formed parties in opposition to the Congress, and the Congress itself got divided into rival groups of Congressman and Tilkaites. The leader of the Gandhian faction in the Marathi Congress until 1925 was the Marwari millionaire, Jamnalal Bajaj. The Maharashtrian Brahmin community which led the Marathi Congress since 1900 regarded Lokmanya Tilak as their political guru and, for reasons of ideology, as from their unwillingness to surrender political power, they resented Gandhiji's attempt to interfere in the politics of their region. Gandhiji overcame this difficulty by appointing Bajaj as his first lieutenant in the Marathi region. Bajaj used his social position and financial resources but by 1925 a forthright and ambitious Moreshwar Abhyankar, a barrister in Nagpur succeeded him as leader of the Gandhian Congress.