Mumbai, Dec 5: From a back-bencher in the school to Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time, Devendra Fadnavis has come a long way weathering all odds.

Undeterred by Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray’s move to break the alliance, later settling down at the Deputy Chief Minister’s post in the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led MahaYuti government and BJP’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, Fadnavis as a loyal and committed party soldier and RSS activist stayed cool and charted party’s victory in the state assembly election.

His rise from a booth-level worker to a corporator in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to the Chief Minister is meteoric. This was possible due to solid hard work, foresight and strong confidence in converting a crisis into an opportunity.

Born on July 22, 1970, in a middle-class family from Maharastra's second capital Nagpur, he got lessons in politics from his father and former legislator Gangadharrao Fadnavis who was an active Jan Sangh activist. His mother Sarita played a crucial role in his upbringing.

Since his college days, Fadnavis was associated with the RSS and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad apart from his association with various social organisations.

In 1992 Fadnavis at the age of 22 years entered into electoral politics and became a corporator. In 1997, he was elected as one of the youngest mayors of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Considering his dedication and administrative capabilities, the BJP gave him a lot of opportunities to stamp his mark in politics.

Fadnavis became a legislator for the first time in 1999 and was later re-elected successively in 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024 elections.

He became the state BJP general secretary in 2010 and later assumed the charge of state unit chief in 2013.

He created his own identity by raking up various issues including corruption and scams against the Congress-NCP government. He played a major role in BJP crossing 100 seats by winning 122 seats in the 2014 elections.

Contrary to expectations within the BJP, the party's central leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up Fadnavis as the Maharashtra Chief Minister in 2014 and he completed his five-year term proving his command over administration and tightening his grip over the party.

Amid Maratha reservation protests, Fadnavis took the initiative to table the bill ensuring reservation to the Maratha community ahead of the 2019 assembly elections. It was upheld by the Bombay High Court but later scrapped by the Supreme Court.

He also was credited for the successful organisation of the ‘Make In Maharashtra’ and ‘Make In India’ summits in Mumbai. Besides, he launched an ambitious Jalyukt Shivar Yojana to make Marathwada drought-free.

Moreover, during his tenure, Fadnavis took the initiative to launch a metro network in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region apart from launching a slew of infrastructure projects including Mumbai Coastal Road, Atal Setu and Mumbai Nagpur Samruddhi Marg.

Fadnavis-led government’s decision to provide the reservation to the Maratha community helped the BJP to again cross a century by winning 105 seats in the 2019 elections.

After Shiv Sena ditched the BJP and joined hands with Congress and NCP, Fadnavis worked as a Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly. He cornered the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government over the alleged scams in handling the coronavirus pandemic, corruption in police transfers and promotions, and unholy nexus between criminals and politicians.

During his tenure as the LoP, NCP’s two top ministers Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh were jailed on charges of money laundering.

Fadnavis played a major role in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray. Fadnavis became Deputy Chief Minister and worked with Eknath Shinde to expedite a number of projects stalled by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

He was instrumental in bringing Ajit Pawar to MahaYuti in July 2023. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar ahead of the Assembly election launched a slew of welfare and development schemes worth Rs 96,000 crore including the Ladki Bahin Yojana that helped MahaYuti to score a major win in the state Assembly election.

Fadnavis crafted an Assembly poll strategy that resulted in the BJP winning a record 132 seats and the natural claimant for the chief minister’s post.

With Thursday’s swearing-in, Fadnavis, who is popularly known as Devabhau for a host of beloved sisters across Maharashtra, has launched his 3.0 innings with a resolve to further speed up Maharashtra’s development and transformation.

--IANS

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