The News Minute | October 19, 2014 | 8.37 am ISTUntil the day of the results, expectation was high that the BJP would form a government on its own in Maharashtra. The front-runner for the top job in such a scenario was Devendra Fadnavis, the state’s party chief.Now however, it appears that although BJP may emerge as the single largest party in Maharashtra it is unlikely that it will get a simple majority. This will necessitate a coalition and there is no clarity yet on who will be the BJP’s alliance partner. Even though there is speculation that the NCP has approached the BJP, the party’s natural ally is the Shiv Sena.So will the party reward the man who contributed to this success with the post of chief minister? Given Maratha sentiment and the Sena’s core support base, Fadnavis’ Brahmin background may militate against him, in comparison with Pankaja Munde, who not only happens to be the late Gopinath Munde’s daughter, but also belongs to the OBC background.Although the BJP’s Maharashtra chief Devendra Fadnavis comes from a political family, he started his career right at the bottom, and also tasted success early. Fadnavis was born into a Brahmin family in Nagpur in 1970. His father Gangadhar Rao Fadnavis was an MLC from Nagpur and his mother Sarita Fadnavis comes from the famous Kaloti family of Amravati, and was the Director of Vidarbha Housing Credit Society.With degrees in law and business management, Fadnavis started his career at the age of 21, as a councillor in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation. He also went on to become Nagpur’s youngest mayor at 27. However, his association with the RSS-BJP begins at an RSS shakha at Trikoni Park and joined the ABVP later. He was also the youth wing’s president in 1989.Fadnavis is also seen to be aggressive in the Assembly, taking to task the Congress-NCP government on a host of issues including corruption.His appointment at state party president did not go down well with many people including senior leaders from the party in Maharashtra such as Nitin Gadkari. The move was reportedly a means to placate the late Gopinath Munde, who was the party’s tallest leader in the state.There appears to be a perception within the party that he may be made chief minister in the scenario that the party forms a government. At a rally in Nagpur recently, several leaders kept referring to “Kendrat Narendra, Rajyat Devendra†(Narendra Modi at the centre, and Devendra Fadnavis at the state).VidarbhaThere has been much speculation on whether the BJP will grant the long-standing demand for statehood to Vidarbha. If so, it may be likely that Fadnavis may be made chief minister of the new state.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said during the campaign that he would not allow the division of Maharashtra as long as he was in power. Asked about this, Fadnavis said that the BJP’s central manifesto allowed for the creation of smaller states but denied that the state BJP had not promised a new state for the Vidarbha region as creating a new state was the centre’s prerogative.Fadnavis had also defended the prime minister’s remark, saying that what Modi was referring to was the removal of Mumbai from Maharashtra.