Fadnavis elected Maharashtra BJP Legislature Party leader, set to return as CM

Devendra Fadnavis, 54, was unanimously elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party in Maharashtra on Wednesday paving the way for his return as the Chief Minister of India’s richest state.

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Fadnavis was elected by all 132 MLAs of the BJP in the presence of Central observers of the party, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

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Fadnavis was the Chief Minister of the state from 2014 and 2019. In the 2019 state elections, the pre-poll alliance of the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena got a mandate to rule but Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray broke away from the pact to get the Chief Minister’s post. Thackeray joined hands with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress and became Chief Minister.

In 2022 Thackeray’s right hand man, Eknath Shinde, broke away from the parent party and became the Chief Minister of the state with BJP support. Sharad Pawar’s nephew split the NCP and joined the BJP-Sena government, with Shinde as Chief Minister, Fadnavis as Deputy CM along with Ajit Pawar.

Importantly, Fadnavis had the full backing of the RSS, BJP’s ideological mentor organisation.

Fadnavis is an MLA from Nagpur South, and represents the area of maximum influence of the RSS which has its headquarters in Nagpur’s Resham Bagh.

The RSS and BJP strategists this time did not want to trade off the Chief Minister’s post with anyone else. They thought Fadnavis, a former Chief Minister who had been pushed to become Deputy CM against his wishes and who deferred, needed to be rewarded.

With the BJP winning 132 seats in a 288-member Assembly this time, saffron forces staked claim to the Chief Minister’s post with Fadnavis leading the race.

Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar have been offered Deputy Chief Minister-ship in the new government that will take oath at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.