Devendra Fadnavis was accorded a rousing welcome by Nagpurians on Sunday after he arrived in the city during his maiden visit after becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Responding to the lively welcome in his hometown, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, “I thank 14 crore people of Maharashtra for blessing the Mahayuti and making me Chief Minister.” Fadnavis also said, the people chose Mahayuti to serve them and change their lives. “It is a joyous moment that after becoming the Chief Minister, I have come to my ‘janmabhoomi’ and ‘karmabhoomi’ (birthplace and workplace). Nagpur is my family,” he added.

 

 

“The Mahayuti (coalition) under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi received huge blessings from every strata of the society in the Assembly elections,” said Fadnavis. Fadnavis raised ‘Ek hain toh safe hain’ and ‘Modi hain toh mumkin hain’ slogans while addressing his supporters at Laxmibhuvan Square. “I, along with Eknath Shinde, Ajit Pawar and others will work 24x7 to fulfill the dream of people,” he said. Fadnavis arrived in Nagpur for the oath-taking ceremony of the Mahayuti Government as part of the first expansion of Cabinet. The Winter Session of the State Legislature will commence in Nagpur from December 16. In an electrifying display of affection, citizens thronged the CM’s route to get a view of their beloved leader. It was Fadnavis’ first visit to Nagpur after taking charge as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra following the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance’s mammoth victory in the 2024 Assembly elections recently.

 

After arrival at Nagpur Airport at 12.30 pm, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) arranged a public rally for Fadnavis from the Nagpur Airport to Laxmibhuvan Square. On his arrival, the streets around Nagpur city were abuzz with energy as hundreds of enthusiastic supporters and citizens gathered to greet Fadnavis at every square. From Airport, Fadnavis started his journey in a specially decorated ‘Rath’ accompanied by wife Amruta Fadnavis, BJP State President Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other senior leaders of BJP. The enthusiasm among citizens was so high that the ‘Rath’ took almost three hours to reach Laxmibhavan Square from Airport. Fadnavis was greeted by the citizens at every square including Somalwada Square, Hotel Radisson Blu Square, Chhatrapati Square, Khamla Square, Aath Rasta Square, Laxmi Nagar Square, Bajaj Nagar Square, Shankar Nagar Square and Laxmibhuvan Square. Fadnavis’ ‘Rath’ was greeted with showers of flower petals, welcome banners, welcome arches and much more.

 

Local business organisations, shopkeepers, hoteliers, women’s groups, senior citizen groups and other organisations set up welcome banners for Fadnavis all along the path. Many organisations distributed water bottles, juice to participants of the rally at various squares. Malkhamb, rope climbing, Dhol Tasha were the major attractions of the celebration as, in almost every square, youth were demonstrating these arts as a token of respect to the new Chief Minister. Renowned bhajan singer Sahnaz Akhtar presented various devotional songs at Laxmi Nagar square where a huge stage was set up to welcome Fadnavis. Due to the welcome rally, the traffic movement was hampered at various stretches from Nagpur Airport to Laxmibhuvan Square till 5 pm.