CM Fadnavis emerges as Maha boss after BJP steals the show

MUMBAI: A day before results to Maharashtra’s civic and rural body polls were announced, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis completed 25 years in electoral politics.

Fadnavis was first elected as a corporator in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation as a 21-yearold, went on to complete two terms, then one term as the city’s youngest mayor and subsequently three terms as legislator.

Thursday’s poll results – billed as a referendum on his government’s two-and-half years in Maharashtra came as a big win for Fadnavis.

In the last three decades of Mumbai politics, ever since the Shiv Sena grabbed power in the BMC as the self-proclaimed messiah of the Marathi manoos, no chief minister directly took on Bal Thackeray’s tigers and won in the bargain.

But Fadnavis, 46, did just that, something even political veterans including former Congress chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and more recently Prithviraj Chavan had failed to do.

From a relative lightweight who had never worked in the government before his promotion as the chief minister after the 2014 polls, Fadnavis will now be seen as the BJP leader who managed to sideline the Congress in the city of its origin.

Known for his knack of uncovering scams -- he put the now-famous CAG report on an irrigation scam in Maharashtra in public domain -- and analysing state budgets and public policy, he is now also seen as an astute electoral and political organiser.

In an aggressive campaign in Mumbai, which he helmed single-handedly , Fadnavis not only took on the Thackerays and called the Sena a “party of extortionists” but also put up a score to match that of the “sons of the soil” party. This is the closest any party has come to Sena’s tally in the BMC since 1997.

“Despite having no government experience when he took over as the CM, Fadnavis has proved he has electoral and organisational acumen,” said a senior party leader.

Not just Mumbai, under Fadnavis’ leadership, the BJP has managed to consolidate its wins in the 2014 assembly polls by spreading its foot print across all recently-held polls

The win will also help Fadnavis gain more confidence of the BJP’s top brass. It is clear that unless there is an unexpected disruption, Fadnavis will lead his party and call the shots in the 2019 assembly polls as well.