‘An able administrator and visionary’: Why RSS will back Devendra Fadnavis to become Maharashtra CM

A elder RSS/BJP functionary, requesting anonymity, said, “The RSS’s interest is that Maharashtra, with specified a monolithic mandate now, should person an capable head and visionary who tin pb the authorities with a steadfast hand.”

The BJP has emerged arsenic the azygous largest enactment successful Maharashtra, winning 132 retired of 288 seats. This has led to beardown sentiments wrong the BJP cadre, suggesting that the enactment should involvement a assertion for the main minister’s position, with Fadnavis being the astir apt candidate for the role.

With its important tally, enactment leaders judge that Fadnavis is positioned to instrumentality the pb from Eknath Shinde of its conjugation spouse Shiv Sena successful the state. Shinde’s Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Ajit Pawar, secured 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

After the Lok Sabha canvass setback – the BJP was reduced to 9 seats from 23 successful 2019 – Fadnavis approached the RSS seeking help to antagonistic the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) communicative that the BJP was against Constitution and halt the Opposition parties’ alleged consolidation of ballot banks connected caste and spiritual lines. Fadnavis himself had flagged the anxiousness by coining “vote jihad”, a word to denote the alleged consolidation of Muslim votes against BJP candidates during Lok Sabha elections.

Accordingly, the RSS, the BJP’s ideological fount headquartered successful Nagpur, took up the work and deployed its workers to make consciousness among the masses.

Earlier, Fadnavis himself had said, “All decisions related to authorities enactment volition beryllium taken by the cardinal enactment successful consultation with Shiv Sena and the NCP. It volition beryllium a corporate determination acceptable to all.”

While Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar person pledged their enactment to the BJP-led government, they are apt to propulsion for a beardown bargaining position. A faction wrong the Shiv Sena inactive hopes Shinde volition proceed arsenic the main minister.

However, BJP workers are raising unit connected enactment leaders to name Devendra Fadnavis arsenic the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.