Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis[a] (born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 5 December 2024 with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as his deputies,[7] and previously held this position for two terms from 2014 to 2019.

He previously served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, alongside Ajit Pawar in the Eknath Shinde government.

His mother, Sarita Fadnavis, belonged to the Kaloti family of Amravati and had previously served as a director of the Vidarbha Housing Credit Society.

As a college student, Fadnavis was an active member of the RSS affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP),[24][25] and formally joined the organisation in 1989.

He also made the decision to double property tax, and this raised 35 crore rupees for the municipal corporation which was in financial stress.

Later in 2009 election, he contested from the newly created Nagpur South West constituency, and defeated Vikas Thakre from the Congress.

[34] His appointment to the position was seen as a mutual compromise by Gopinath Munde-led and Nitin Gadkari-led factions within the state unit of the party.

[37][35] His appointment was made when tension between the then deputy Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Munde and former party national president Gadkari was already high.

[42][43][34] Political commentators considered Fadnavis, as the president of the Maharashtra state unit of the BJP, to be a front runner to become the next chief minister due to his closeness to top party leaders like Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

BJP formed a minority government initially with Confidence and supply from the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

He also established a dedicated "War Room" to monitor all the major infrastructure projects in order to address the bottlenecks and ensuring timely completion.

[56][57] In 2019, the Fadnavis-led Governance initiated a scheme to set up a water grid project in Marathwada to address the drought situation.

A meeting was concluded on 4 September 2023, at Sahyadri Guest House, Mumbai by the Maharashtra Cabinet sub-committee to discuss the course of action regarding the topic of the Maratha Reservation.

[62] The Maharashtra Assembly unanimously passed a bill on 20 February 2024, providing 10% reservation for the Maratha community in education and government jobs.

[63] In the 2019 legislative assembly election, the Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shiv Sena, and other smaller parties, contested together.

Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray demanded that the chief minister should be from both the parties in a rotation government arrangement.

[79][80] During this time, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari invited the major parties, including BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, to form government.

[83] During this short period, Fadnavis chaired a climate resilience meeting with representatives of the World Bank, restarted the Chief Minister's refund cell, and sanctioned ₹5380 crores in aid for farmers.

After a significant amount of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against the party leadership, the leader of the rebels Eknath Shinde, union home minister Amit Shah and Fadnavis met in Vadodara, Gujarat reportedly to plan a merger or coalition to topple the Uddhav led government.

[86] On 28 June, Fadnavis met Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari and demanded a motion of no confidence against Uddhav Thackeray.

[95][93] Nevertheless, his role in the government was considered key by political commentators in keeping a check on the Shinde-led Shiv Sena by the top BJP leadership.

[101] Political commentators have highlighted his strategic acumen and loyalty to the party leadership as key factors that led to his naming as the chief minister.

[112] Aurangzeb is a controversial figure in Maharashtra, often considered responsible for imposition discriminatory jizya tax on Hindus and demolition of many Hindu temples.

A complaint over the non-disclosure of pending FIRs in criminal cases against Fadnavis had been filed by advocate Satish Uke.