‘Me punha yein’: Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s comeback man

The twists and turns in the Maharashtra political crisis will rival that of any potboiler. First came the shocker that Shiv Sena’s rebel legislator Eknath Shinde and not Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis will become the chief minister of India’s richest state. But the drama did not stop at that. While making the CM announcement, Fadnavis said renounced any position in the new Maharashtra government. But the seniormost party leadership had other plans for the former two-time chief minister (his second term lasted for four days). “He must be Deputy Chief Minister,” said BJP president JP Nadda, dealing the second big surprise of the day. “I will personally request him.” It was final, Shinde would be the boss and Fadnavis his second in command.

The BJP leader might be No 2 in the Maharashtra government but he is no doubt the party’s No 1 man in the state. In fact, the former CM was the key architect of the saffron party’s comeback in the state. The man kept a close watch on the Shiv Sena all along and ultimately made sure that the split happened and Uddhav Thackeray was cornered. Also read: What Uddhav Thackeray can learn from Naveen Patnaik and Devendra Fadnavis We take a look at how Fadnavis had to sit in the Opposition despite the people’s mandate in the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections and how he paved his way back to the top. Throwback to 2019 After the 2019 hung results, the BJP and the Shiv Sena split over chief ministership – the former refused to share the post. What followed was high drama. Fadnavis decided to form the government with the Nationalist Congress Party with Ajit Pawar as his deputy. The two even took the oath and it seemed like Pawar had ditched his uncle and NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar. However, more political twists were to come. The government lasted barely 80 hours as the senior Pawar ordered those who had gone along with this nephew to return to the NCP fold. Fadnavis had to step down as chief minister. The Shiv Sena was back in action and joined hands with its earlier rivals – the NCP and the Congress, both of which won about half their seats in the election. An unnatural coalition was formed in Maharashtra – the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister and Ajit Pawar as his deputy. Fadnavis was backstabbed yet again in a matter of weeks. “So, when you are stabbed in the back, you have to give a befitting response,” he had said in June 2021 while serving as the Opposition leader. He was written off by many. Political circles were abuzz with rumours that the leadership in New Delhi was miffed with Fadnavis for miscalculating his chances in Maharashtra. But Fadnavis was planning his revenge all along. He did not let the MVA government rest.

Buying time Fadnavis knew he would have to wait for an opportunity. As Leader of the Opposition, he was relentless in his attack on the MVA government. He slammed it for misgovernance during the COVID-19 pandemic and went all guns blazing against NCP’s Nawab Malik who was arrested in a money laundering case. He took on the state government over the Aarey Metro car shed, which Uddhav Thackeray had scrapped and the Sachin Vaze case. But his words were also backed by action on the ground. During the pandemic, he travelled across the state and was on the ground taking stock when floods ravaged parts of Maharashtra last year. He strived toward strengthening the BJP at the booth level. In November 2021, the party planned around 20,000 booth-level assemblies across the state to talk about the failures of the MVA government. “Fadnavis turned out to be a very successful Opposition leader. He constantly had tours, programmes, and kept the MVA government on the back foot with his criticisms. In the entire duration of the MVA government, he was setting the narrative for the political discourse and constantly tried to expose the rifts between the three parties of the MVA,” political analyst Hemant Desai told ThePrint. Fadnavis led the party campaign in the assembly elections in Bihar and Goa in 2020 and 2022, where the BJP emerged victorious. He also was at the top of things during the Rajya Sabha elections and most importantly, the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, where the party won all the five seats it contested as he planned the cross-voting, triggering turmoil in the MVA. [caption id=“attachment_10857941” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] For Devendra Fadnavis, the toppling of the MVA is sweet revenge. In 2019, he had to step down as chief minister after NCP backed out. Image courtesy: @Dev_Fadnavis/Twitter[/caption] Breaking up the MVA While the former CM continued to work relentlessly, he remained focussed on the goal – a comeback in Maharashtra. He kept a close eye on the anger that was festering within the Shiv Sena, as its leaders felt detached from Uddhav Thackeray and his coterie. Even as he continued to attack the MVA, he remained in touch with senior Shiv Sena leaders like Eknath Shinde and maintained a rapport with them, earning their trust. “Fadnavis helped leaders across party lines and never let them down. Unlike Thackerays, he was available to them even at odd hours. Shinde did the same. He kept the communication lines open with those who could not get through to the Thackerays. It was a work in progress for almost two years now,” a source told CNN-News18.

All that relationship-building finally paid off. Over the last nine days, he took centre stage, orchestrating the political drama in Maharashtra. Shinde and the first group of rebel MLAs first fled to Surat in Gujarat, a state ruled by the BJP. They then went to another BJP bastion – Assam’s Guwahati. The rebel camp said that they were breaking away to protest against Thackeray’s decision to join hands with Congress and the NCP. As their numbers swelled, they demanded that Shiv Sena should reunite with their natural ally, the BJP. While the Sena continued their rebellion, Fadnavis was in Delhi with the top leadership, finetuning his moves and planning the BJP’s strategy as the stage was now set for a comeback. This included Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asking Thackeray to prove his majority. After the Supreme Court said that a floor test was a must, the chief minister was left with no choice but to step down. Uddhav Thackeray was gone and the Shiv Sena was left divided. Shinde had the backing of 39 MLAs and the Thackeray faction was left with 15. The future of the party remains in question with Shinde claiming that the rebels make up the real Sena. As far as numbers go, the BJP is ahead. But by putting Shinde in the driver’s seat, it has won the game of optics and more. For Fadnavis life has come a full circle. A deputy CM position is not what he might have wanted to settle for but he is a party player. In the run-up to the 2019 campaign, Fadnavis had said, “Me punha yein (I’ll be back)”. And we know he is a man of his words. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .