Devendra Fadnavis: March to Mantralaya

The rise of Devendra Fadnavis, the helmsman of the first BJP government in Maharashtra, from an obscure Nagpur corporator to the Chief Minister has been quiet but steady.

The 44-year-old fourth term MLA, who worked for long under the shadows of stalwarts like Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari, has deep roots in RSS and was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party Chief Amit Shah over his seniors for his organisational skills after BJP's triumphant run in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls.
The untimely death of Mahajan and Munde, the latter was tipped for chief ministership if BJP came to power in the state, and Gadkari's shift to the national stage, left a vacuum in state party leadership but opened a new vista for the young leader's march to Mantralaya, the seat of power in Maharashtra.
In a state dominated by Maratha politicians, Fadnavis is only the second Brahmin Chief Minister after estranged former ally Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi and second youngest to hold the top post after NCP boss Sharad Pawar. T
Though Modi had launched a presidential-style campaign blitzkrieg in Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls, credit for the emphatic victories also went to Fadnavis, the state BJP president. Together with Shiv Sena and Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha, the saffron alliance had won 42 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats. Despite its messy separation with Sena just ahead of the Assembly election, BJP won 122 seats in the 288-member House, up from 46 in 2009. I
Son of RSS activist and BJP MLC late Gangadhar Fadnavis, Fadnavis cut his teeth in politics at a young age when he joined Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of RSS, in 1989. At 22, he became a corporator in the Nagpur civic body and its youngest Mayor in 1997 at the age of 27. Fadnavis contested his first Assembly election in 1999 and won. There was no looking back for the strong proponent of a separate Vidarbha state as he won three subsequent Assembly elections. He currently represents Nagpur South West seat in the House.
Unlike many leaders across the political spectrum in Maharashtra, Fadnavis has remained untainted by accusations of corruption. Clearly one of the most articulate of top Maharashtra politicians, Fadnavis is also credited with pushing the previous Congress-NCP government into a corner over the alleged irrigation scam, which many allege is primarily responsible for the spate of suicide by farmers in the parched Vidarbha region.
With a clean public image and solid backing from Modi-Shah combine, the young leader from Nagpur, from where RSS runs its writ over the larger saffron family, snuffed out all competition to emerge the winner. His wife Amrita is a banker and daughter Divija, 5, will become the youngest occupant of CM's house till date.