Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave all credit to Prime Minister Modi and fellow Nagpurian Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari for the victory in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.

Speaking at an event in Nagpur orgnaised to felicitate Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), he said, “I have to thank honourable Nitin Gadkari, who went to every nook and cranny of Maharashtra and held election meetings there. By creating enthusiasm among BJP workers, he worked to give a new direction to the election campaign. Of course, the mantra given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also worked wonders in Maharashtra. Whatever I am is because of the BJP. Devendra Fadnavis does not exist without the BJP. Therefore this party is everything to me.”

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The chief minister also used the opportunity to go down the memory lane. “In fact, I never thought that I would ever enter politics. In eleventh standard, I started working with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). My plan was to do that work and study for law. I finished 12th standard and was admitted to law college and after my father passed away I wanted to work full time with the ABVP. I still remember that in 1990, we all went to Ayodhya as kar sevaks. We were all kept in the Budaun District Jail. I was the eldest and I was only 20 years old. One day, after returning from Ayodhya, our then Sunil Ambekar called me and said it has been decided that from tomorrow you have to work in the BJP,” Fadnavis recalled.

Fadnavis said he actually fought against the decision, but Ambekar said, “We don’t make our decision here (in the RSS) and if you have any questions, go to Vilas Fadnavis and tell him. So, I went to Vilas the next day and told him that I don’t want to work in politics. However, Vilas convinced me after some time. I still remember the day when I was told to contest the municipal election.

I agreed, but I had not yet come of age and did not know when the election would be held, but God had written something else in my destiny. I came of age and all these leaders urged me to stand for election from Ward 69. That is how I got elected as a corporator from Nagpur. Later I became the leader of the opposition party and became the deputy chief minister again after which I became the chief minister,” he added.

“All of you have witnessed it but the truth is that Nitin Gadkari, the late Gopinath Munde, Bhausaheb Phundkar, and others who are our leaders, played a very important role in all my progress. It is because of their guidance that an ordinary worker like me has come so far. I have been able to reach here due to the hard work that many people put in. I have always been aware that there are many workers of my capability or maybe even much more than me. That’s why I can definitely tell you that no matter how much power I get, power will never go to my head, because I know that whatever I am is because of the BJP alone. The workers who build this party are like gods to me,” Fadnavis said.