Nagpur: RSS could not have asked for a better beginning to its centenary celebrations with their preferred pick for chief minister — Devendra Fadnavis — sworn in as the 21st CM of Maharashtra on Thursday. The oath-taking ceremony at Mumbai's Azad Maidan was the grand finale of a long series of efforts by RSS to discreetly back the poll campaign of the party with affiliated outfits visiting homes and urging citizens to cast their vote. Top sources say that after the landslide mandate, the Sangh brass remained steadfast in their support for Fadnavis as CM, even though there were murmurs about somebody else bagging the top post.
This groundwork by RSS during assembly polls in Maharashtra was in sharp contrast to the Lok Sabha poll campaign earlier this year. It was said an unhappy Sangh did not throw its full weight behind the party, which did not perform well at the hustings.
But Fadnavis, as the undisputed leader of the party in Maharashtra, ensured there was no repeat of Lok Sabha elections. He ensured multiple meetings between Sangh and BJP leaders in run-up to polls and feedback was constantly taken on how the campaign should proceed. Many of these meetings were conducted in presence of state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Fadnavis too went into a huddle with the RSS brass multiple times at its Nagpur headquarters.
Even on voting day, Fadnavis drove down to Sangh HQ late evening for a closed-door meeting, before leaving for Mumbai. This gave enough hints in public domain that Fadnavis was keen on toeing the RSS line, something which reflected in the campaign's tone. BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, known to be close to Fadnavis, had kept the belligerent Hindutva campaign alive in the months leading to voting day. Soon Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath joined in with ‘batenge toh katenge' slogan, followed by party's biggest name PM Narendra Modi saying ‘Ek hain toh safe hain'.
Fadnavis was unapologetic about his strong Hindutva line even though his ally and deputy CM Ajit Pawar was unhappy about this. He made it clear that he won't compromise with the RSS' core theme.
The Sangh leadership too stood rock-solid behind Fadnavis, when the name for CM post came up for discussion. Even as talks dragged on and the party refrained from naming the CM, with sources saying that a non-Brahmin face was being considered for political reasons, RSS is said to have put its foot down. Ultimately, things went according to script and Fadnavis took charge of CM's post for the third time.