Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blue eyed boy and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is ready to take a plunge into national politics. He has been assigned a big role in the Bihar assembly elections. This was told to him by Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent Delhi visit.
Fadnavis will join BJP’s Bihar in charge and Rajya Sabha Member Bhupendra Yadav to coordinate the party's campaign. Fadnavis may be made the Bihar election in-charge after the announcement of poll schedule by the Election Commission.
Fadnavis on Thursday evening through video conference had joined the core committee of the BJP in Bihar to discuss the strategy for the ensuing assembly elections. The committee comprises Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, and Union Minister for State (MoS) for Home Nityanand Rai and Bihar BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav.
BJP sources told Free Press Journal that the party’s central leadership has asked the Bihar leaders to keep Fadnavis in the loop and keep him updated on information related to the Bihar election campaign. He will also participate in every important meeting related to the polls. "He has already begun his work and will play an active role. A formal announcement regarding his responsibility may be made later by party president J P Nadda," sources added.
BJP’s decision to task Fadnavis with a key role in Bihar polls comes at a time when there is a raging controversy over the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Bihar and Maharashtra police have pitted against each other while Fadnavis has been at the forefront to attack Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son Uddhav Thackeray. Further, BJP has alleged that the father and the son were blocking the investigations.
The party leadership’s move to rope in Fadnavis for Bihar election is important as during his chief ministership he had played a major role in consolidating BJP’s position across Maharashtra, especially by demolishing the dominance of Congress and NCP. It was under his leadership that the BJP won 105 seats in the state assembly elections held last year, falling short of simple majority.
During the assembly elections, Fanavis and Yadav came quite close to each other as the latter was poll campaign in charge of the BJP in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, NCP Minister Dhananjay Munde has questioned the timing of Fadnavis’ appointment, especially when he has been criticising the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case. Congress party spokesman Sachin Sawant taunted that Maharashtra residents have received a big relief after BJP’s decision.
