The Maharashtra Chief Minister and the leader of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Devendra Fadnavis (called Deva Bhau lovingly by his party cadres) emerged as the biggest and the most popular leader across all political parties in the entire state post the civic elections held on 15 January 2026, the results of which were announced on 16 January 2026. It was indeed a landslide victory for the BJP-led alliance called Mahayuti in Maharashtra.
The results gave the BJP a great lead in the overall tally. Out of the total 29 Municipal Corporations in the state, the Mahayuti won in 24 odd bodies while the BJP is poised to have its own Mayor in 22 Municipal Corporations. The icing on the cake is that the BJP will for the first time in history have an opportunity to have its own Mayor in the most prestigious and the richest civic body in Asia -the BMC (Brahan-Mumbai Municipal Corporation).
The most important political implication of these civic bodies’ elections in Maharashtra is that the BJP has assumed the position of number one party in the state at grassroot level as well. It has consistently reiterated such a position for the fifth time during the last 12 years -thrice in the assembly elections and twice in the Lok Sabha elections. The other important implication is that these results this time have put heavy curtains on the ‘Maratha politics’ led by Pawars and Thackerays in Maharashtra. Their overwhelming and decades-old dynastic and family influence on the socio-political scenario of Maharashtra has been effectively squeezed by the BJP and its allies.
The worst thing that has happened with the opposition is that it has lost its ground in its own bastions and political fortresses. The Congress has been pushed to the sidelines in a way that they would need a herculean effort to gather mass once again in an otherwise citadel for them for the past long seventy years. Maharashtra was always considered a great power centre of Congress that has produced a big line of successful political leaders at the national and the state level. Y. B Chavan, Vasant Dada Patil, S.B. Chavan, Shivraj Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Shinde are some of the prominent past leaders of the Congress in Maharashtra.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Udhav Thakerey, though in alliance with the MNS led by his cousin Raj Thakeray, couldn’t make any tangible impact on the minds of the people in Maharashtra. It was a virtual battle for their existence which has now been reduced merely to the status of a battle for survival after the election results. However, in the BMC, their alliance did some face saving mostly because of the Udhav led Shiv Sena. But the hard truth is that the alliance has lost ground in the entire Maharashtra and has been relegated to a corner of the state in Mumbai alone. The following figures would make the scenario more understandable and easy to further analyse the subject.
Out of the total 2,869 seats in the 29 Municipal Corporations in the state, the BJP-led Mahayuti secured an overwhelming 1,991 seats which is almost 70% of the total number of seats. While the Mahavikas-Agadi got 515 seats, the AIMIM got 116 seats. The remaining 247 seats went to the other parties and individuals. After 25 long years, the control of the BMC has slipped from the hands of Thakereys and their faction of Shiv Sena which is deemed as a big political setback to Udhav Thakerey and his politics surrounding his family. The BMC used to be the bread and butter for the Shiv Sena (UBT) all these decades.
The Pawar family politics in Maharashtra led by Sharad Pawar has also been forced to meet its nadir, ultimately. Its stranglehold in the Sugar industry and Cooperative Banking in Maharashtra and particularly in the Western Maharashtra was effectively curtaìled by the BJP’s strategic micro-management. This was the ground that kept Sharad Pawar financially and resource wise strong all these fifty years. The Hyderabad-based Muslim political party AIMIM headed by Assauddin Owaisi was able to garner its share in the state and got 116 seats. It might in unison with a new party, Islam Party, be able to capture Malegaon Municipal Corporation where Mahayuti has been able to get only 20 seats as a consequence of the demographic challenge.
Deva Bhau is undoubtedly the biggest hero of these elections. There’s an old saying, success has a hundred fathers, but failure is always an orphan. This adage is even truer in politics. Very few people celebrate victory with everyone and shoulder the responsibility of defeat alone. One such name in Maharashtra politics is Devendra Fadnavis -Deva Bhau.
Devendra Fadnavis is a leader who has repeatedly demonstrated the true meaning of leadership. It’s not easy for someone who has been a Chief Minister to accept the position of Deputy Chief Minister, but he did. Even before that, he was the leader who revived the BJP in Maharashtra, a state where the party had been dormant for decades, always playing second fiddle to the Shiv Sena—and this in the very state where the RSS headquarters is located. Before the Modi era, it was almost taken for granted that the BJP would never come to power in Maharashtra on its own. When the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance broke down in 2014, most analysts predicted the BJP’s complete collapse. But during that very period, with the spirit of ‘You have the right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions’, Deva Bhau led the party to power and became the Chief Minister.
In 2019, when power slipped from his grasp, his brief stint as Chief Minister became the subject of political ridicule. For years, he was the target of criticism, sarcasm, and trolling. But like a leader nurtured in the traditions of the RSS, he didn’t make a fuss, didn’t complain, but quietly continued his work as the Leader of the Opposition. During this time, he laid the foundation that gradually led to the disintegration of the politics of both the Shiv Sena and the NCP. The very forces that had once kept him away from power became irrelevant due to his strategy. And when the time came, he was back at the center of power—but once again standing in the back row, in the role of Deputy Chief Minister, enduring the criticism.
During the Lok Sabha elections in May 2024, the BJP despite its strategy and strength fell short of its goals in the state too. It couldn’t translate its efforts into the desired results in the state. However, the party under the leadership of Deva Bhau went for a deep introspection, review and reform process. Accordingly, a new planning with the required strategy was evolved for the party in regard to the Assembly elections which followed the Lok Sabha elections.
In November 2024, the picture changed. The BJP came to power virtually on its own along with its allies—a dream that had been cherished for years. This was one of Devendra Fadnavis’s greatest political victories. Anyone else would have stopped there, but not Fadnavis. He captured the last and the most important bastion—the BMC Mayor’s post, which for decades had been the center of the Shiv Sena’s power, identity, and resources. While the opposition’s campaign was based on division and fear, the BJP’s campaign was fought on achievements and credibility—along with the Hindutva ideological clarity, something rarely seen in Indian politics. The result became history. For the first time, the BMC got an opportunity to have the BJP Mayor. Mumbai now has not just a double-engine government, but a triple-engine government too.
Whatever the critics say, whatever the supporters say—in this entire journey, if there is one person who suffered the most in defeat and made the least noise in victory, it is Devendra Fadnavis -Deva Bhau. Whenever the party faltered, he stood at the forefront; whenever the party won, he stepped back. Today, when success is being attributed to him, it is not just a victory of power, but a victory of patience and perseverance. It is rightly said—the world salutes the rising sun, and today’s rising sun is Devendra Fadnavis. He translated his famous poetic reference quoted by him in the Maharashtra Assembly as the leader of opposition into real-time action, “Mera paani utarta dekh, mere kinare par ghar mat basaa lena. Main samundar hoon, lautkar wapas aaunga” (Don’t build your house on my shores seeing my water receding. I am the ocean, I will come back).
His contributions will be remembered by the generations to come in the context of making his party from number four to number one in the state. The tragic death of Ajit Pawar in a recent air crash gives Fadnavis additional responsibilities both politically and administratively. Under his leadership, the Congress stands decimated in the state of Maharashtra; and all other political combinations have become virtually baseless and without any serious clout. All his party men and women throughout the nation look up to Deva Bhau for inspiration and future leadership. A new star is surely born in BJP….!
