10 facts to know about Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's new Chief Minister

Devendra Fadnavis is the newly elected Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Incidentally he is the first person from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold this post. His name for the coveted post was unanimously adopted by the party MLAs.BJP leaders like Pankaja Munde, daughter of Late Gopinath Munde, Eknath Khadse, etc were also in the race, but Fadnavis being a favorite of PM Modi and other party veterans, outran others in the race.Devender Fadnavis is a tech savvy person and has his own website. He is a youth icon who is loved by the people of Nagpur.Here are 10 interesting facts about Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's new Chief Minister:1. “Politics to me is an instrument to bring socio-economic change in the lives of people.”- This is how Devendra Fadnavis describes himself in his website. He is a tech-savvy person much like Prime Minister Modi.At the time he was elected to lead the BJP legislature party on Tuesday, he had 950,139 followers on Facebook and nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter. Currently he has over 67000 followers on Twitter and around 1,082,459 followers on Facebook.He likes to keep himself updated with social media and technology. Being a young politician, he represents attributes of a leader who knows how to carry himself in the rapidly changing society.2. In a state dominated by Maratha politics and politicians, the 44-year-old leader, with deep roots in RSS, is only the second Brahmin after BJP's estranged ally Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi to become chief minister.The soft spoken and portly young leader was a clear favourite for the coveted post through the intense lobbying by a number of BJP leaders after the party emerged as the single largest party.Fadnavis always looked certain to clinch it, largely due to the confidence he enjoys of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah."Devendra is Nagpur's gift to the country," Modi had said of him at an election rally.3. At 44, Devendra Fadnavis is the second youngest chief minister of Maharashtra. The youngest was Sharad Pawar; he was 38 when he took over as CM in 1978. He is also BJP's youngest State President.Devendra Fadnavis is a popular Youth icon. His depth of knowledge on political, legal, financial and technological fields is what makes him an ideal leader. His book ‘How to Understand & Read the State Budget' acts as a reference book for many.His daughter Divija a KG student at Bhavan's Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir in Nagpur, she is the youngest-ever occupant of CM's official bungalow 'Varsha' in south Mumbai.4. Fadnavis as child refused to go to his school, Indira Convent, as the school was named after the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, whom he blamed for jailing his father who as part of Jan Sangh was arrested during the Emergency.He was shifted to Saraswati Vidyalaya, from where he continued his education. He holds a Graduate Degree in Law from Nagpur University, a Post Graduate Degree in Business Management and a Diploma in Methods and Techniques of Project Management from D.S.E. Berlin.Starting his political career in the mid nineties, in a short span, has become a respected political leader of the masses.5. Devendra Fadnavis was born in a Brahmin family of social activists associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS. His father Gangadharrao Fadnavis was a BJP member of the state legislative council.He passed away when Devendra was only 17 years old. Fadnavis joined the RSS in his childhood. He started his political career as a member of the BJP's student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.He is a star in Nagpur. His analysis of the union budget in a public address is a keenly awaited event in the city. He has written five books, according to his website.6. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for three consecutive terms, since 1999. He was a member of Nagpur Municipal Corporation for two consecutive terms, during 1992 to 2001. He was elected as the youngest Mayor of Nagpur and second youngest Mayor in India from 1997 to 2001.Devendra is a seasoned public representative and has been recognised in several forums for his political acumen and skill. This ability has been recognized both nationally and internationally, as he has many awards to his credit including one from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association for the ‘Best Parliamentarian Award‘.He has been elected as a secretary of the Global Parliamentarian on habitat.7. Devendra has played multiple leadership roles. He has played important roles in his party. He has served as an elected member in the Municipal Corporation of Nagpur for two consecutive terms, in 1992 and 1997.He has the distinction of being the Second youngest Mayor in India and the youngest Mayor in Nagpur, when he served as the Mayor of Nagpur.He was also the only person to be re-elected and serve as the first ‘Mayor in Council' of the State of Maharashtra. He has been elected Member of the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra State, representing Nagpur, since, 1999.8. Devendra Fadnavis is married to Amruta Fadnavis (Associate Vice President, Branch Head at Axis bank. His wife has made it clear that she is not planning to leave her job even after his husband is sworn-in as Maharashtra CM on Oct 31.“I won't leave my job. I have worked hard to get here...I believe every woman should try to be financially independent. I will always keep working because I too want to grow intellectually. It is a strong point of my identity,” she told a daily.Fadnavis and his wife have a five year old daughter named Divija who studies at Bhavan's Bhagwandas Purohit Vidya Mandir.9. He participated and gave presentations at International Environmental Summit at Honolulu, USA (1999). He attended U.S. National Conference Of State Legislatures at Washington and Nashville, USA (2005). He gave Presentation on ‘Disaster Mitigation And Management in India' at International summit organized by IDRC-UNESCO –WCDR at Davos, Switzerland (2006).He presented a paper on ‘Natural Disasters Mitigation-Issues On Ecological And Social Risk' at Global Environmental Change Congress at Beijing in China organized by WMO –ESSP (2006).Fadnavis represented India in ASEM meeting of young political leaders from Asia & Europe at Copenhagen, Denmark (2007).He presented paper on ‘Energy Security issues' at New Generation Seminar organized by East-West Centre of U.S. federal government (2008).Devendra Fadnavis was a member of High Level Delegation of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore (2008).He participated in Global Parliamentarian Forum meet on Habitat at Croatia, Europe (2011) and at GPH Asia regional meet at Malaysia (2012). Fadnavis was a member of delegation invited by United Nations' Habitat at UN headquarters at Nairobi in Kenya (2012).10. Devendra Fadnavis has been known to often ride Mumbai's local trains and readily stands in queue to buy tickets. For many years he has called a spartan room in an MLA hostel his home in Mumbai. Despite hailing from a well-off political family, Devender's modesty has won thousands of hearts in Maharashtra. He is quite a celebrity in Nagpur.His wife and daughter reflect the same humility . Amruta, Devendra Fadnavis' wife refused to leave her job after he was elected Chief Minister.Her decision was backed by him. This reflects that the family recognizes value of hard work and respects individuality