With a huge mandate, Fadnavis has the opportunity to get governance and state finances back on track after five-years of cut throat politics

And Fadnavis has the task of playing captain-cool.

Addressing his first press conference after taking charge as the Chief Minister, Fadnavis had made his intentions clear. “This no longer is a T-20 or One-day match. We are going to play a test match,” he had said, signalling there won’t be hasty decisions, rushing administration for implementation and unreasonable political pressure.

“It isn’t a secret how last five years went. The MVA government functioned under Covid, where very little could be done in terms of development or projects. The next two and half years were unprecedented in the history of Maharashtra, where everything was political. We have a government with a clear mandate now and entire bureaucracy is expecting a changed environment,” a senior administrative officer said, on the condition of anonymity.

After taking charge as the chief minister of Maharashtra for the third time, Fadnavis, in his first week, held a meeting of his administrative heads asking them to prepare a 100-day plan for their respective departments.

Weeks after giving those directions, a department-wise series of meetings are now being held to discuss what plans have been chalked out for next 100 days. Those meetings initially did not witness participation from ministers of respective departments. After murmurs regarding it in power corridors, ministers are now part of it.

“One of the first tasks before the CM would be to bring state finances back on track,” the official said.

Case in point being the previous government’s ambitious Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme, where Rs 1500 was paid every month to women whose annual family income is below Rs 2.5 lakh.

This and similar populist schemes announced ahead of Assembly polls have led to an increase in the state’s fiscal deficit by almost Rs 1 lakh crore and the number may increase.

Despite having declared road and infrastructure works worth few lakh crore in the state, contractors are protesting for payments. Several departments have been told to avoid excessive expenditure.

New infrastructure projects are unlikely to be taken up to avoid pressure on the state treasury. With experienced Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on his side, Fadnavis’ first task in Year 2025 is to tackle the issue as he has repeatedly said that the aim is to make Maharashtra a trillion-dollar economy.

No political compulsions

Having 137 MLAs (including five independents) with BJP alone in a 288-member Assembly is one of the biggest advantages for Fadnavis.

It has ensured that despite it being a coalition government, he cannot be pressured or arm-twisted by allies.

“After the split in the Shiv Sena, when Eknath Shinde took over as the CM, he was constantly surrounded by his MLAs. He had to overpower several of his cabinet colleagues of other parties as well, to fulfill the demands of his MLAs,” a senior MLA from the BJP said.

In what could be seen as a welcome change after five years of political turbulence in Maharashtra, former CM Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) met Fadnavis during the winter session of the state legislature at Nagpur and exchanged pleasantries.

Fadnavis, too, has repeatedly said in his speeches and press conferences that the ruling side will not measure the opposition’s strength by its numbers but by the issues it will raise.

In 2025, another task ahead of Fadnavis would be to control ministers who make controversial statements.

The murder of a sarpanch in Beed and NCP minister Dhananjay Munde’s close aide Walmik Karad’s association with it has already led to demands for Munde’s ouster for an impartial inquiry. BJP minister Nitesh Rane’s controversial remarks terming Kerala as “mini-Pakistan” has created yet another controversy.

The mandate of Assembly polls has also sent a message that the government cannot hide behind the political reasons and need not shy away from tough decisions, if need be.

“It is useless to expect anything of worth from this government, which has ministers like Nitesh Rane who openly go on terming one of India’s state as mini-Pakistan. Should people expect this from a government with such a huge majority?,” asked opposition Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar.

Local body polls

The state has not witnessed local civic body polls for around four years. Having grabbed the power with a promise to deliver good governance, the task ahead of Fadnavis in 2025 would be to hold these elections by resolving legal issues, if any.