Devendra Fadnavis

Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician who is serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 30 June 2022 alongside Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the 5th time on 2 July 2023.

in the year 1992 at the age of 22 and became a Corporator.

He was also Mayor of Nagpur from 1997 to 2001.

Fadnavis was born in a Marathi Brahmin Hindu family to Gangadhar Fadnavis and Sarita Fadnavis in Nagpur.

His father, Gangadhar Fadnavis, served as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur.

His mother, Sarita Fadnavis, a descendant of the Kaloti family of Amravati, was a former director of the Vidarbha Housing Credit Society.

Fadnavis did his initial schooling at Indira Convent, named after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

During the Emergency, Fadnavis' father, being a member of the Jan Sangh, was imprisoned for participating in anti-government protests.

Fadnavis subsequently refused to continue his schooling at Indira Convent as he did not want to attend a school named after the Prime Minister he held responsible for imprisoning his father.

He was then transferred to the Saraswati Vidyalaya School, Nagpur, where he received most of his schooling.

Fadnavis attended Dharampeth Junior College for his higher secondary.

Fadnavis holds a graduate degree in law from Government Law College, Nagpur University, a post-graduate degree in Business Management and a diploma in Methods and Techniques of Project Management from DSE-German Foundation for International Development, Berlin, Germany.

Fadnavis began his political career in the mid-nineties.

Since that time he served in multiple leadership roles for both his political party and as an elected representative.

As a college student, Fadnavis was an active member of the BJP affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

5 years later, in 1997, Fadnavis at 27 became the youngest mayor of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation and became the second-youngest mayor in the history of India.

Fadnavis is representing Nagpur in the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra State (Vidhan Sabha) since 1999.

Fadnavis took over as the legislative party leader by the BJP MLAs in the presence of the party's central observers, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh and the party's National General Secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda after being elected to the position.

A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Fadnavis has represented the Nagpur South West constituency in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly since 2009 and Nagpur West from 1999 to 2009.

He also served as the 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 31 October 2014 to 12 November 2019, Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2022 and the President of BJP, Maharashtra state unit from 2013 to 2015.

Having been sworn in at the age of 44, he is the second-youngest Chief Minister in Maharashtra's history after Sharad Pawar.

As the leader of the largest party in Maharashtra state assembly, Fadnavis was appointed as the chief minister of Maharashtra on 31 October 2014.

His government won a confidence motion by voice vote on 12 November 2014 allowing it to govern.

Fadnavis launched 'Mumbai Next' on 30 January 2015, which was termed a roadmap to convert the country's financial capital into a global financial and entertainment hub.

On 6 February, the Fadnavis government held a high-profile conference under the project's umbrella, which was attended by Tata Sons Ltd chairman Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani, and other prominent business leaders.

On 15 September 2015, Fadnavis inaugurated the Maharashtra Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) in Nagpur, advancing the state's ambition to digitise its police force.

Fadnavis, who was also the state home minister, stated, "The CCTNS initiative would put all police stations in the state online and paperless."

After the implementation of CCTNS, Maharashtra became the country's first state to establish India's first crime-criminal tracking network (CCTNS).

This said highway was proposed in 2015, and the pre-construction activities began in 2019.

This Mahamarg is built to enable a safe and fast commute between Mumbai and Nagpur along with new towns equipped at the intersections.

The expressway will reduce the travel time from 16 hours to 8 hours.

This expressway will be consisting of charging stations along its length for Electrical Vehicles (EV).

The Samruddhi Mahamarg will open new job and employment doors in the coming years, which will bridge rural and urban gaps.

In 2016, under his chief ministership, Maharashtra launched several digital initiatives to mark 70th Independence Day.

Under the Chief Ministership of Fadnavis, the Maharashtra Government proposed an initiative for Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Way.

This infrastructure was initiated to be built as a part to boost economic development in the rural areas of Maharashtra.

In 2018, Fadnavis announced a 1% Government Reservation in the open category for orphans education and government jobs in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra is the foremost state to obtain such a policy.

He served a 5-day long second term as Chief Minister during the 2019 Maharashtra political crisis, before resigning on 28 November 2019.

The highway has now been renamed as "Hindu Hrudaysamarat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Highway" by the government on 22 December 2019, and is now planned to complete the entire work of the project by September 2022.