Maharashtra CM swearing-in: 5 key factors behind Devendra Fadnavis’ successful comeback

Maharashtra CM swearing-in: Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the new chief minister of Maharashtra at a star-studded event in Mumbai on December 5. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar also took oath as deputy chief ministers during the swearing-in attended by who's who of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top celebrities from Bollowood and corporate.

Fadnavis, 54, was elected leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) legislative party unit on December 4 and staked claim to form the next government in the state.

This is the third term for Fadnavis as chief minister of Maharashtra. In his first term, Fadnavis was the chief minister between 2014 and 2019. And in his second term, Fadnavis was the chief minister for five days in November 25.

Ever since Mahayuti scripted a resounding return winning 231 of the total 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Fadnavis remained the front-runner for the top post even as speculations over ‘sulking’ Eknath Shinde did the rounds until official announcement on Wednesday.

As Fadnavis is all set to swear as chief minister of Maharashtra, Mint takes a look at five factors that led to his appointment to the top post:

1 - BJP's Best-Ever Mandate

The Mahayuti alliance scripted a historic victory in the assembly elections by winning 235 seats in the 288-member House, trouncing the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which won just 50 seats.

Fadnavis is the most prominent face of BJP in Maharashtra – a state where the saffron party has largely relied on regional parties to be in power. With a strike rate of almost 90 per cent, the BJP led by Fadnavis won 132 seats — the highest among all allies in 2024 assembly polls. Shinde Sena won 57 seats, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 41 seats.

With its best-ever performance in Maharashtra, the BJP stopped short of just 13 seats away from crossing the majority mark of 145 seats on its own.

2- The Eknath Shinde Factor

The outgoing chief minister Eknath Shinde has been holding back the government formation by reportedly not agreeing to take up the Deputy CM's post until December 3. During the hectic parleys between the Mahayuti partners leading up to Wednesday's announcement, Shinde was convinced by giving the example of Fadnavis, who served as the chief minister before taking oath as deputy CM in 2022.

To recall, during political turmoil in Maharashtra in June 2022, the BJP took a surprising decision and picked Eknath Shinde as the chief minister of Maharashtra.

The decision came after Shinde rebelled along with over 39 party lawmakers and spearheaded a coup against the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

The decision was perceived as a move to elevate the Shiv Sena leader as an alternative to Uddhav Thackeray. As it turned out, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction of Mahayuti won 57 seats as opposed to Thackeray faction's 20 seats.

Ideally, the BJP, with 132 seats on its own, would be comfortably placed in the government with Ajit Pawar’s 41 seats. Yet the BJP cannot afford to not have Shinde on board. The saffron party has its eyes on the upcoming BMC elections. The objective is to weaken Uddhav Thackeray further in the civic body polls.

3- Weak Congress

While the BJP won record number of seats, the Congress scored its worst-ever performance in Maharashtra since 1962 in the assembly polls. The grand-old party, which was part of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won just 15 out of the 101 seats it contested with strike rate of just 15 per cent.

The party's abysmal performance is in stark contrast to the Lok Sabha elections 2024, in which the Congress had emerged as the single-largest party in the state with 13 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats.

The party's vote share came down from 16.92 per cent in the Lok Sabha elections to 12 per cent in the assembly polls.

4- Ek Hai To Safe Hai

In his first speech after being picked as next chief minister of Maharashtra on December 4, Fadnavis said the mandate BJP got has affirmed the slogans 'Ek Hai To Safe Hai' and 'Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai.'

Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Fadnavis used the ‘ek hain toh safe hain (together we are safe)" slogan carrying the underlying message for Hindu unity and OBC consolidation in Mahayuti's favour.

The slogans countered the Opposition’s charge that it wanted to end reservation. They also countered the Congress' ‘Constitution is in danger’ slogan, which reportedly helped the MVA do better in the Lok Sabha Election 2024 but failed to yield any electoral dividends in assembly polls.

5- The RSS link

Fadnavis is not just the most prominent BJP face in Maharashtra, he also enjoys the confidence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP. Fadnavis has been associated with the RSS since his early years before he entered active politics through the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-affiliated student wing.

In 2024 general elections, the BJP was reduced to nine seats from 23 that it won in 2019 Lok Sabha in Maharashtra. Fadnavis reportedly sought Sangh's help to counter the opposition MVA's narrative on caste census and ‘save Constitution.’

The RSS got involved on ground. It organised a conclave in Mumbai, which was attended by BJP leaders including Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Overall, the RSS convened 60,000 small meetings in the state and mobilised BJP voters to come out and vote ahead of the November 20 assembly elections.