"Devendra is Nagpur's gift to the country," Modi had said of him at an election rally.
Though Modi had launched a presidential-style campaign blitzkrieg in Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly polls, a portion of the credit also went to Fadnavis, state BJP President, for the party's unprecedented victories in both.
Together with Shiv Sena and Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha, the saffron alliance had won 42 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats.
Despite its bitter separation with Sena just ahead of the Assembly election, BJP won 122 seats in the 288-member House, up from 46 in 2009. Fadnavis earned the appreciation of both Modi and Shah for the way he handled the election.
