ONCE BEING the only second chief minister in Maharashtra to complete the full five-year term, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis now holds the dubious distinction of being the CM for the shortest tenure of 80 hours since the state came into being on May 1, 1960. Earlier, P K Sawant held the record of being the Maharashtra CM for the shortest term of 10 days — from November 25 to December 4, 1963. He was made the caretaker chief minister after the death of his predecessor Marotrao Kannamwar. Following this, Congress’ Vasantrao Naik became the CM. Naik, also from Vidarbha like Fadnavis, was the first CM to complete the full five-year term in Maharashtra. He first became the CM on December 5, 1963, and held the post till March 1, 1967. He again became CM on March 1, 1967, and held the reins till March 13, 1972, followed by his tenure from 1972 to 1975. In all, he held the CM’s post for the longest duration of 11 years and 77 days. Naik resigned in 1975 as Shankarrao Chavan took over, who was replaced by Vasantdada Patil. In 1979, Sharad Pawar, who quit Congress (U), formed Congress (S) and became the CM with the help of Janata Party, CPM and other small parties. He led the Progressive Democratic Front, which was dismissed by Indira Gandhi, who returned to power in 1980. After Pawar’s government fell, the state was placed under President’s Rule for the first time. Abdul Rehman Antulay, who replaced Pawar, held the post for one year and 217 days before he resigned in the wake of the cement scandal. Babasaheb Bhosale held the post for one year and 11 days from June 21, 1982. Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar replaced Bhosale and stayed on as the CM for 276 days from June 3, 1985. Shankarrao Chavan, who replaced Nilangekar, was in the saddle for two years and 106 days. Sharad Pawar then held the post from June 1988, but resigned in 1991. Sudharrao Naik, who replaced him on June 25, 1991, resigned after one year and 242 days. Pawar again became the CM on March 6, 1993 but resigned as Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power. The Manohar Joshi government lasted for three years and 323 days. Narayan Rane replaced Joshi and held the post for 258 days before the Congress-NCP government came to power. The Vilasrao Deshmukh government lasted for three years and 90 days. He was replaced by Sushilkumar Shinde in 2003, who resigned after one year and 286 days and was again replaced by Deshmukh in 2004. He continued in office for four years and 33 days. He was then replaced by Ashok Chavan, who quit after more than two years. Prithviraj Chavan took over from him and resigned after BJP-Sena came to power. Chavan served as CM for three years and 319 days. Fadnavis is also the first chief minister of the state to resign twice from the post in a month. On November 8, he had resigned from the top post before of the end of the Assembly’s tenure.
