Mumbai, Dec 4 Devendra Fadnavis, who is set to be sworn in as the Chief Minister on Thursday, has held three most prominent records in Maharashtra politics.
His first record is of becoming the state Chief Minister three times. Fadnavis became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 2014 and created a record of completing his five-year tenure smoothly. He was the second Chief Minister after Vasantrao Naik who held the chief minister’s post for a record 11 years and 78 days.
Fadnavis became the Chief Minister second time for 72 hours after he along with Ajit Pawar took the oath of office and secrecy in November 2019.
However, Ajit Pawar, who was then with the united NCP, returned to his party fold after resigning. Thereafter, the government did not last.
Now after his unanimous election as the legislature party leader, Fadnavis will become the Chief Minister for the third time.
His other record is that the BJP contested three Assembly elections under his leadership and improved its tally crossing 100 seats in successive polls. BJP won 122 seats in 2014, 105 seats in 2019 and now a record 132 seats in the just concluded assembly election in November 2024.
What is particularly noteworthy is that in 2019, BJP despite emerging as the single largest party, had to sit in the opposition after its ally Shiv Sena joined hands with Congress and NCP to form the government in November 2019 which ultimately collapsed in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde staged rebellion with 39 Shiv Sena legislators and 10 independents.
His third record is quite unique in state politics. Fadnavis broke the trend that a leader who becomes the Deputy Chief Minister does not make himself the Chief Minister’s post. However, Fadnavis, who worked as the Leader of the Opposition during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, created a record by becoming the Chief Minister for the third time.
Earlier, several leaders including Gopinath Munde, R.R. Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal and Ajit Pawar worked as the Deputy Chief Minister but could not become the chief minister. Fadnavis is an exception.
Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in
--IANS
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