Mumbai, October 28
Devendra Fadnavis is the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He was elected leader of the BJP legislature party in the presence of senior party leaders, including Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and general secretary JP Nadda, at state’s Vidhan Bhavan today.

Fadnavis, who will be the first BJP Chief Minister of the state, will be sworn in at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Members of Parliament from the state and senior BJP leaders will attend the ceremony.

Fadnavis (44) will be the 18th Chief Minister of the state and fourth from the Vidarbha region. Tipped for the top job ever since the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly, Fadnavis had to face stiff challenge from Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and senior party leader in the state Eknath Khadse for the top job. Even newbie leader Pankaja Munde had thrown her hat in the ring.

But with the RSS and Modi backing Fadnavis, the other contenders had to step aside and the election of the new CM was unanimous.

“Devendra Fadnavis was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislative party. No other name was proposed,” said Rajnath after the meeting. Fadnavis thanked his party colleagues for electing him. “I thank everyone for choosing me as the legislative party head. There are many people in Maharashtra BJP who are capable of taking this responsibility, yet they chose me, I thank them. I thank PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah,” he said.

After his election, Fadnavis left for a meeting with Governor Vidyasagar Rao at Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the government.

BJP leaders said Fadnavis will be sworn in along with a small Cabinet by Governor Rao on Friday.

It is still unclear if the Shiv Sena will be part of the government or whether Fadnavis will head a minority government. Sources in the BJP say no decision has been taken on including the Shiv Sena in the new government.

Hailing from a family of RSS activists, Fadnavis cut his teeth in the Nagpur municipal corporation as a corporator. At 27, he was the youngest mayor of Nagpur. Fadnavis, who enjoys a clean image, went on to make it thrice to the Maharashtra Assembly from Nagpur.

• Devendra Fadnavis is the son of former Jan Sangh leader Gangadhar Fadnavis, whom Nitin Gadkari calls his ‘political guru’
• Joined RSS’ students wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1989. At 22, became corporator in the Nagpur civic body and was elected youngest mayor in 1997, aged 27
• Contested first Assembly polls in 1999 and won. Successfully contested three subsequent polls
• The soft-spoken leader enjoys a clean image and has been a strong proponent of a separate Vidarbha state