A suave politician seen as adaptable, unflappable, determined and far-sighted, Devendra Fadnavis returned as Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday as head of the Mahayuti government and is set to begin his new innings with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as two Deputy Chief Ministers.
A sagacious politician not given to impulsive decisions, Fadnavis,54, has met challenges in his political career with patience and perseverance, strategic maneuvering and political acumen. He has emerged as one of the most prominent next-generation leaders of the BJP.
In the complex politics of Maharashtra, Fadnavis was the first Chief Minister to complete a full five-year term in 47 years and only the second one in the history of the state.
He was 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2014-2019 and contributed to BJP emerging as the single largest party in the assembly polls held later that year in which the party bagged 105 seats.
The BJP was unable to form government after 2019 polls due to differences with its traditional ally Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray over the post of Chief Minister but returned to power about two-and-half years later after a split in Shiv Sena, which was led by Eknath Shinde.
Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP in June 2022 and there was expectation among supporters of Fadnavis that he will become Chief Minister again. Though Fadnavis initially gave signals that he will not be part of the government, he abided by the party’s directions and agreed to be Deputy Chief Minister, a decision seen as a sacrifice by him. Later, NCP also split and Ajit Pawar joined the ruling alliance as Deputy Chief Minister. The ruling Mahayuti secured an overwhelming majority in the results of assembly polls declared last month with BJP winning 132 seats at a strike rate of nearly 90 per cent.
An attempt to form government with Ajit Pawar failed in 2019, months after the assembly polls. Fadnavis took oath as CM and Ajit Pawar as Deputy CM but the government lasted a few days.
Uddhav Thackery joined hands with NCP and Congress to lead Maha Vikas Aghadi government till a split in his party in 2022.
With Mahayuti faring poorly in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, it faced a stiff challenge in the assembly polls.
Through the Mahayuti government’s tenure, Fadnavis played the role of unifier allowing Eknath Shinde to take the lead with the alliance not giving any signal of disunity. The strategy paid off in the assembly polls with populist decisions also helping Mahayuti gain popularity among people.
His supporters say that Fadnavis believes in the dictum of ‘politics is an instrument for socio-economic change’ and follows principle of ‘people first’.
Born on July 22, 1970, into a middle-class family in Nagpur, Fadnavis cut his political teeth in ABVP, the student wing of RSS. He political career began at a very young age, in 1992. He was elected as the Councillor at Nagpur Municipal Corporation and served two consecutive terms.
He has the distinction of being the second youngest Mayor in India, youngest Mayor of Nagpur and the only person to be reelected on the position of ‘Mayor in Council’. He was Mayor of Nagpur twice.
Into his sixth term as MLA, Fadnavis has held several organisational responsibilities in the BJP. He steadily rose from the rank of ward convener to president of BJP in Maharashtra .
Soft-spoken, pleasant and thoughtful, Fadnavis is recipient of several awards including the Best Parliamentarian Award of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
As Chief Minister Fadnavis used technology as key enabler and focused on result-oriented frameworks for project implementation. He laid thrust on infrastructure and Maharashtra had achieved the feat of attracting 50 per cent of the total FDI inflow into the country in 2016.
Fadnavis has proved true to his words “Mee Punha Yein’ (I’ll be back)” to the detriment of his political rivals.