'Will Never Forget...': Devendra Fadnavis On 72-Hour Tenure As Maharashtra CM In 2019

In November 2019, Fadnavis and the undivided NCP’s Ajit Pawar were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM, respectively, in an early morning ceremony in Raj Bhavan.

File photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Source : @CMOMaharashtra

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said he would never forget his 72-hour tenure in 2019 in the top post.

“I haven’t become the chief minister for the second time, but the third. I cannot forget taking the CM’s post early in the morning, even if you all forget,” Fadnavis said after inaugurating a coffee table book on Ahilyabai Holkar, whose 300th birth anniversary will be celebrated on May 31.

The legendary Indore queen, known for good governance and social reforms, was born at Chaundi under Jamkhed taluka of present-day Ahilyanagar district (formerly Ahmednagar) in western Maharashtra.

“In my introduction, it was said that I have become the chief minister for the second time. It is not the second, but the third time,” Fadnavis said.

In 2019, Fadnavis became the second CM of Maharashtra, after Vasantrao Naik, to complete the full 5-year term.

In November of that year, after the assembly polls and the break-up between the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena, Fadnavis and the undivided NCP’s Ajit Pawar were sworn in as CM and Deputy CM, respectively, in an early morning ceremony in Raj Bhavan.

However, the government lasted only three days.

Referring to the coffee table book, written and edited by senior journalist Ambarish Mishra, Fadnavis described Ahilyabai as an administrator who rebuilt monuments of Indian culture.

“Her contribution to history is invaluable. Today, we feel proud that two women officers (Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh) briefed the country about Operation Sindoor, but we must remember that Ahilyabai also formed a women's battalion in her army. She was an ideal ruler,” Fadnavis said.

He said the government will purchase copies of the coffee table book and send them to the CMs of all states. “She was an institution. We have renamed the Ahmednagar district Ahilyanagar,” said Fadnavis.

The CM said his government also plans to make a commercial film on the revered queen to ensure her life and times reach the younger generation. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)