Devendra Fadnavis, 44, is set to be the first Chief Minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra, fulfilling the party’s slogan “Narendra in Delhi and Devendra in Maharashtra.”
Mr. Fadnavis, who was unanimously elected the Legislature Party chief on Tuesday, will be the second Brahmin Chief Minister in the State. He will be the second youngest in the post after Sharad Pawar, who assumed office at 38.
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Mr. Fadnavis later met Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and staked claim to form the government. The BJP is 22 MLAs short of a majority, but has time till November 15 to prove its strength in the Assembly.
While the BJP leaders say they are still in talks with the Shiv Sena, the NCP has already said it will abstain from voting. Only Ministers from the BJP will take oath at the swearing-in on October 31, sources said.
Mr. Fadnavis, who comes from an RSS background, is a four-time MLA from Nagpur and has a clean image. While he had the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Fadnavis faced a challenge from Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, senior leader Eknath Khadse and others. However, dissent was swept aside with Mr. Khadse proposing Mr. Fadnavis’s name and other hopefuls seconding it. Initially, just seven Ministers are expected to be sworn in, including Mr. Khadse, Vinod Tawde, the late Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde and Mr. Gadkari’s loyalist Sudhir Mungantiwar.
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