Riding The Wave

A CONFIDENT DEVENDRA FADNAVIS STEPS OUT TO SEEK A SECOND TERM FOR THE BJP-SENA GOVERNMENT IN THE ASSEMBLY ELECTION

- Kiran D. Tare

Devendra Fadnavis’s 4,232-kilometre Mahajanadesh Yatra across Maharashtra could well be a metaphor for how far he has come in his political journey. Gone is the diffident political novice who took over as the youngest chief minister of the state (after Sharad Pawar) in 2014. Circa 2019, Fadnavis seems very much in command, exuding an air of confidence in all that he says and does, a politician who has shown himself capable of taking on more seasoned opponents such as the Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar and the Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray.

Five years ago, seniors in the state BJP, such as Eknath Khadse, Prakash Mehta, Girish Bapat, Raosaheb Danve and Vinod Tawde, treated Fadnavis as a junior. Today, there is no doubt who calls the shots. Fadnavis enjoys the confidence of party president and home minister Amit Shah as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who have publicly vested their faith in his leadership. Shah attended the second leg of his yatra, Modi will join him in the concluding phase. On September 1, Shah announced that Fadnavis will continue as chief minister after the election.

With a month to go before the assembly election in Maharashtra, Fadnavis knows he and the BJP have never been on better footing in the state. The overwhelming Lok Sabha mandate in May has only buoyed the party’s prospects. The decimation of the Congress and the disarray following Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as party president have left the state unit dazed and confused. The rift in the Pawar family, too, is working to the BJP’s advantage. At least 20 top leaders of the Congress and NCP have defected to the BJP and Sena in the past couple of months.

TAMING THE TITANS