Devendra Fadnavis' place in Maharashtra history: CM with shortest tenure, second longest term

When the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra completed its five years last month, Devendra Fadnavis became only the second leader in the state to have completed a full term. He now holds another distinct record under his name - the chief minister with the shortest tenure in Maharashtra's history. 

In his first term, Fadnavis took oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on October 31, 2014. He became the first BJP leader to lead the state.  His first term lasted till November 12, 2019. While he had submitted his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyrai on November 8, he was asked to continue as caretaker chief minister until the state was placed under President's rule. 

His term of 5 years, 12 days made him only the second CM after Vasantrao Naik of the Congress to last the full five-year term. Naik served as the chief minister of the state from December 5, 1963 to February 20, 1975. 

The second tenure of Fadnavis started on November 23 when he was sworn in by Koshyari at an early morning ceremony at Raj Bhavan. His second tenure, however, lasted only 80 hours as he resigned on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court ordered floor test in the state.

Before Fadnavis, PK Sawant held the record of shortest term in  Maharashtra -- from November 25 to December 4, 1963 as he held the post for a week as the caretaker chief minister following the death of his predecessor Marotrao Kannamwar.

Fadnavis, 49, resigned from his post, on Tuesday, three days after taking oath for the second term as Maharashtra chief minister, saying the BJP does "not have the numbers."

His resignation came after the Supreme Court directed that the floor test for Fadnavis to prove his majority in the assembly will be conducted on Wednesday. Fadnavis had taken oath as chief minister, along with NCP's Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as deputy chief minister at a hastily organised ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning. 

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Fadnavis said the BJP will play the role of "an effective opposition" even though he expressed doubts whether the "three-wheeler government" of Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress will be stable.

Meanwhile, the MLAs of the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress elected Uddhav Thackeray as the leader of the "Maha Vikas Aghadi", paving way for him to become the chief minister of Maharashtra. 

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP is the single-largest party with 105 MLAs, while the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress have 56, 54 and 44 members, respectively.