Third stint for fourth CM from Vidarbha

NAGPUR: Maharashtra’s first assembly election in 1962 and the most recent one in 2024 share a common thread: both resulted in a chief minister hailing from Vidarbha
When the state was formed in 1960, no fresh elections were held immediately, allowing Yashwantrao Chavan, the then chief minister of Bombay State, to continue in office.
After Maharashtra went to polls for the first time, Congress formed govt and Marotrao Kannamwar became chief minister. Hailing from Chandrapur district, he was a veteran politician who was also a member of the now defunct Bombay Legislative Assembly. He died in 1963, just a year after taking charge, which paved the way for another Vidarbha politician to step in and enter the record books for multiple reasons.
Vasantrao Naik from Pusad (Yavatmal) became the second leader from Vidarbha to serve as Maharashtra’s CM. Naik is regarded as a stalwart in state politics for several reasons, but at least three details stand out as records that seem nearly impossible to break.
First, he continued to be CM for 11 consecutive years, an unbroken record for the state. Second, he established a political dynasty in his constituency of Pusad, which continues till date (since 1952—then under Bombay state—the Pusad assembly seat has been represented by the Naik family; for one family to win every assembly election for the last 72 years from the same constituency is unheard of in Maharashtra).
A third record is that the Naik family has produced the only ‘chacha-bhatija’ (unclenephew) jodi to become chief minister. After Vasantrao, the third Vidarbha leader to take over as CM was his nephew Sudhakarrao.
He took over the top post in 1991 and was credited with taking a tough stand on corruption and the underworld. It was also during Sudhakarrao’s tenure that riots broke out in Mumbai, which ultimately led to Sharad Pawar taking over as CM.
When Vasantrao won the 1999 state polls, his last, he had no idea this term would also mark the debut of a young MLA from Vidarbha — Devendra Fadnavis. In hindsight, this almost seems like a handing-of-the-baton moment for Vidarbha as one former CM ended his legislative career, and a future CM began his.