His pan-Maharashtra public outreach programme — a road journey called Mahajanadesh Yatra — should go a long way for CM Devendra Fadnavis given the overwhelming response it got from farmers, workers, men and women and millennial youth. People have been gathering to greet him along the roads that the yatra has taken in rural and urban areas. While the neatly organised event is a mark of BJP's management skills, the unorganised masses voluntarily welcoming the CM even in heavy downpour is an indicator of the CM's growing popularity and mass acceptance as a seasoned politician.

Fadnavis is perhaps the only incumbent CM in Maharashtra who has been projected as the man to continue in the hot seat after Assembly polls. The BJP has declared him as a leader in-charge of winning the popular vote yet again. A marked difference between the 2014 and 2019 elections is that Fadnavis would have to take the alliance partner Shiv Sena along as a major pre-poll partner and also ensure that the BJP wins maximum seats to retain the CM's chair. He does not mention the Sena directly in his speeches but seeks support for the BJP and its allies, making it amply clear that the alliance is here to stay.