Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis named Maharashtra BJP president

NAGPUR: Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis, a promising and relatively young leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was on Thursday named president of Maharashtra unit of the party. The announcement ended the tussle between the Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde factions within the party on the auspicious Marathi new year (Gudi Padwa), with Fadnavis emerging as a compromise candidate.
Belonging to a rare breed of politicians having scholarly approach as well as popular support, the BJP leader from the city earlier had the distinction of being the second-youngest mayor in the country when he became city mayor in 1997. A year later, he became the first ‘mayor-in-council’. Presently into his third consecutive term as MLA since 1999, Fadnavis is representing Nagpur south-west seat, before which he had been elected twice from Nagpur west constituency.
Although there is a perception that he is closer to Munde, Fadnavis has never been known to defy Gadkari or even criticize him. Immediately after he got official confirmation of his appointment on Thursday, the first person Fadnavis called on was Gadkari. He went to Gadkari’s Mahal residence and sought his blessings.
Fadnavis replaces Ballarpur MLA Sudhir Mugantiwar, whose continuation in second term was opposed by Munde. Bowing to Munde’s pressure, the Gadkari group had pitched for Vinod Tawde for the post. But after several rounds of deliberations with Munde and Gadkari, party president Rajnath Singh zeroed in on Fadnavis. The young BJP leader enjoys immense support from the RSS, which is keen that he is not labelled as part of any faction or group since he is a capable leader with potential to achieve a lot more in his political career.
A seasoned public representative, Fadnavis has been recognized in several forums for his political acumen and skill. This ability has been recognized both nationally and internationally, with many awards to his name, including one from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association for the ‘Best Parliamentarian’.
When it comes to issues related to Vidarbha, Fadnavis is known to pursue them very passionately. At least on one occasion, when Vidarbha’s development backlog was being discussed in the state legislature during its winter session here, Fadnavis lost his cool and remarked that those doing injustice to Vidarbha have no right to attend the session dedicated to problems of the region. He had to retract his remarks later.
A staunch supporter of separate Vidarbha state demand, he told TOI on Thursday that his commitment to the cause would not diminish now that he has new responsibility in the party. “But my personal belief would also not come in the way of my responsibility to work for Maharashtra,” he added quickly. Denying that there was factionalism in the party, he said, “The fact that I have been named state unit president proves that. Rajnathji, Munde and Gadkari have backed me all through.”
Asked about the general and state elections due next year, Fadnavis said, “The party is all geared up for polls in case they are advanced. With the public anger at its peak against the Congress-led governments, in the state as well as at the centre, the expectations from the BJP have increased. We will not let the people down. In the state, we will be very aggressive and do our best to convert in our favour the public disenchantment with the ruling parties.”