Devendra Fadnavis as an MLA raised many issues in previous Maharashtra Assembly

MUMBAI: A look at the performance of Devendra Fadnavis as an MLA in the previous Maharashtra assembly reveals that the front-runner for chief ministership had taken up a range of issues from farmer suicides in home turf Vidarbha to privatisation of the state’s power distribution company.

Fadnavis has targeted scandals that happened under the watch of the Congress-NCP government, including the irrigation scam and the Adarsh housing society scam. Atul Shah, a BJP member who has worked closely with Fadnavis, remembers him as the first leader to take part in the Azad Maidan protest against local body taxes. "He sided with the business community against the cumber some tax that was only increasing red-tapism," he said.

"Being a lawyer and a public administrator, he knows the nuances of policy," said Shah. Columnist Kumar Ketkar says Fadnavis comes across as a typical well-meaning white-collared brahmin, naive and incapable of comprehending systems that govern the state politics.

"That could be the reason he is being appointed too." Ketkar said. Fadnavis’ world view is limited by Nagpur and Vidarbha, whereas the politics of the state has been governed by wester n Maharashtra. "Traditionally Vidarbha has had zamindari system in agriculture whereas Konkan and western Maharashtra have had ryotwari systems. This is why the idea of co-operatives that rely on people participation cannot work in Vidarbha. Fadnavis appears largely incapable of understanding these dynamics of state politics," Ketkar felt.

But his supporters feel the state could make fresh steps under the leadership of someone with a clean image. A Vidarbha MLA recalls in almost every session Fadnavis talked about how Vidarbha, despite producing 51% of the electricity used in the sate, had to face severe load shedding.