India, July 20 -- Pune has rarely lacked political heavyweights. It has a Union minister, a Member of Parliament, a deputy chief minister, cabinet ministers and influential MLAs. Yet, when the city faces its biggest crises or its most important infrastructure decisions, the person increasingly seen taking charge is neither the city's MP (who is also a Union minister with an important portfolio) nor its deputy chief minister, but chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

That says as much about Pune's leadership vacuum as it does about Fadnavis' style of functioning.

The past week illustrated this starkly. Heavy rains exposed the city's fragile infrastructure yet again. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway witnessed severe waterlogging, while a landslide ...