With the term of the state assembly ending on Saturday, Devendra Fadnavis resigns as Maharashtra Chief Minister with no sign of a new government and his BJP and its ally Shiv Sena no closer to forming one together. Fadnavis met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to hand his resignation hours before the midnight deadline for government formation. Maharashtra is likely to come under President’s rule with the term of the state assembly ending on Saturday. It is distressing for him and his party that the BJP is not forming the Government in Maharashtra. If two partners do not trust each other, it would have been better if they resolved to govern in 12 hours shift on daily basis and with rotation of shift on next day.Why ask for 2.5 years tenure for each?
The BJP and Shiv Sena failed to resolve a feud that began hours after they won a clear majority in last month’s Maharashtra election. On October 24, the day of the results, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray sought to remind the BJP of a “50:50” power-sharing arrangement including chief ministership for the Sena for two-and-a-half years of the five-year term. Devendra Fadnavis was hoping for his second full term, rejected such a deal, but the BJP offered deputy chief ministership and key ministries, something that failed to mollify its long-term ally. Over the past 15 days, the row became more and more acrimonious with the Sena shooting a barb a day at the BJP, challenging it to stake claim to power as the single largest party and prove its majority on the floor of the house. The BJP won 105 seats in the 288-member house and along with the Sena’s 56, had 161 – enough and more to take power. But the Sena refused to play along, taking the fight to the brink while the BJP waited.
Devendra was not excellent CM but he was not that non-performer too, he has internal disputes with several leaders. Though the critics and political opponents approve that the Fadnavis is a soft-spoken, grounded and humble person. It is his charm that wins trust and respect of his supporters. Add to that, given his RSS background, Fadnavis is extremely disciplined. He knows how much to speak and when to speak. More importantly, he knows when to keep quiet. But the big test for him is now.
Fadnavis was selected as CM, because he was not a political heavyweight and without muscle to promote himself. Modi and Shah are always very tricky and calculative. They could have made Nitin Gatkari, late Gopinath Munde, or some other political strongman to lead Maharashtra, but they chose an obedient, pliant Fadnavis for the job. Fadnavis might have acted as Yogi or Sonowal and made daily headlines laughable but he is smart and waiting for his time. Modi is a template, moving from CM to PM, that good governance is a precious quality to fast forward, not only in business but politics also. When all other BJP ruled states were following strong actions on beef ban, against minorities, he followed a middle path without any untoward incidents. In Maharashtra there were less crimes against minorities and women. He maintained law and order at a reasonable level unlike UP or Haryana.
But when it comes to corruption, his government always came in controversy from Chikki scam by Pankaja Munde to more than 184 financial defaulters like Nirav Modi. The fraud amount in different cases under Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government in the state, amounts to at least Rs 19,000 crore.
Mumbai-based RTI Activist Jeetendra Ghadge obtained this information from the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police.
The opposition accused Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil of wrong doing.
Fadnavis-led urban development department released vast tracts of land, meant for construction of social and affordable housing of the poorer sections, for the benefit of some of the country’s top business families and a clutch of builders.
In a controversial move taken ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the state Cabinet had approved the department’s proposal to lift curbs imposed on the development of vacant lands exempted under the erstwhile Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976. “It is a Rs 20000-crore fraud. Land meant for the housing of the poor has been parceled out to the rich. Aarey car shed scam made very loud voice against him. There were many attacks and accusations by opposition, including he lied in affidavit. Corruption is not always monetary but using his position to benefit his near ones, a clear case in his wife’s movie and singing career too is kind of corruption. She got opportunity in lot of shows and singing acting videos, even against Big B. For her shows Maharashtra police was forced to sale tickets.
There are plus and minus in his 5 years rule, BJP won all grass-root level elections be the Panchayat Samiti, Municipal Corporation on the back of Fadnavis’s image. He is a gifted orator, intelligent as well as a strong fighter.
It is not often in Indian politics that a young man of just 22 manages to take up a political position; he was the youngest Mayor of Nagpur at the age of 27 years. In fact, he was the second youngest mayor in Indian politics, as he became the mayor of Nagpur back then. The outstanding performance combined with consistent political track record stood in good stead, as he became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He is among the youngest Chief Ministers in India. Maharashtra has been a different political ball game. It has always been the same with the Chief Ministership being an impossible thing to retain. He successfully completed his one tenure, let’s wait for the next.
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