Mumbai: Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, fondly known as 'Devabhau' took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time on Thursday. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan at a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present for the swearing-in ceremony. Fadnavis, an aggressive yet soft-spoken leader from Nagpur has many records to his name.
In the history of 'Sanyukta Maharashtra', Fadnavis is the second Chief Minister, after the late Vasantrao Phulsingh Naik to have completed a full term from 2014 to 2019. Naik was the only other Chief Minister to have achieved this feat between 1962 to 1967.
Prominent leaders like former Deputy Prime Minister Yashwantrao Chavan, Shankarrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, Barrister A.R. Antulay, Manohar Joshi, and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar could not achieve this due to multiple reasons including political instability.
After Manohar Joshi, Fadnavis is the only Maharashtra Chief Minister from the Brahmin community. He is also the only Deputy Chief Minister who has been elected to the post of Chief Minister.
Becoming the Chief Minister for the first time at the age of 44, Fadnavis holds the title of the youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra after Sharad Pawar.
Bringing an end to the 10-day-long nail-biting haul since the Mahayuti's win in the Maharashtra elections, 54-year-old Fadnavis was sworn in as Chief Minister. His swearing-in came a day after he was elected leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) legislative party unit in the presence of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Fadnavis was born on July 22, 1970. His father, Gangadharrao Fadnavis, was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) from Nagpur, and his mother, Sarita Fadnavis, was a former director of the Vidarbha Housing Credit Society. Gangadharrao Fadnavis was dearly called the 'political guru' by Union Minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who was also present for the swearing-in ceremony.
In 1992, when Devendra Fadnavis was just 22 years old, he became a corporator, and in 1997, at 27, he became the youngest mayor of Nagpur Municipal Corporation. He has been representing Nagpur South West in the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra since 1999. In the 2024 elections too, Fadnavis retained his seat.
Fadnavis was appointed as the Maharashtra BJP chief in 2013, further bolstering his political influence. Finally, in 2014, he became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the first time.
1st Term As CM
Some of his major achievements during his first term include his enactment of the Right to Service Act. It is one of India's first laws, to ensure timely public service delivery. The Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan, launched by him, aimed to fight drought across the state. Under this initiative, he developed over six lakh low-cost water structures across more than 22,000 villages.
He also constructed a 'War Room' to monitor the progress and advancement of significant infrastructure projects, which further catalysed projects such as the Mumbai and Pune Metro expansions, the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway, the Coastal Road project, and the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL).
After taking oath as Deputy Chief Minister in the coalition government led by Eknath Shinde in 2022, he launched a slew of infrastructural projects and economic policies that further transformed the state into a dominant industrial powerhouse.
Brief Second Term
Fadnavis, alongside ex-Karnataka CM and BJP strongman BS Yediyurappa holds the title of serving the third shortest tenure as the CM. In November 2019, Fadnavis held office only for three days after he made a comeback for a 2nd term as the Maharashtra CM following which he had to resign due to political reasons.
In May 2018, Yeddyurappa, too, held office only for three days as the Karnataka CM after being sworn in on May 17. He resigned before facing a Supreme Court-mandated floor test on May 19.
Path To Third Term
Devendra Fadnavis was chosen as the Chief Minister at a pivotal BJP legislative party meeting in Mumbai. Senior BJP leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar and Pankaja Munde overwhelmingly seconded the bid after Vijay Rupani put forward his name.
Personal Life: Devendra Fadnavis is married to banker and social activist, Amruta Fadnavis and has a daughter, Divija Fadnavis.
Social Media Star: Fadnavis has emerged as the 'most-followed' politician from Maharashtra on social media with a whopping 59 lakh followers on X, 91 lakh on Facebook, 20 lakh on Instagram, 11 lakh subscribers on YouTube, and 55,000 followers on his WhatsApp channel.
Vasantrao Naik is the longest-serving CM of Maharashtra with a tenure of a little over 11 years. Besides Fadnavis, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde took oath as Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister.
