From An Auto Driver to Maharashtra's Chief Minister- Meet Eknath Shinde

NEW DELHI: Riding on the support of rebel MLAs, who still have faith in Balasaheb's Hindutva ideology, Eknath Sambhaji Shinde rode the high tides of Maharashtra politics to become the 20th Chief Minister and outcast Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray from the top post.

From being an auto driver to a Shiv Sena street fighter to becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the journey of Eknath Shinde is inspiring as well as challenging.

The 58-year-old leader, who hails from western Maharashtra's Satara district was born on February 9, 1964, shifted to Thane in his young days, and finally start off his political career after being dropped out of college before completing graduation.

Influenced by the ideology of Bal Thackeray, who aggressively championed the cause of 'Hindutva', he soon found himself as one among thousands of Shiv Sena cadres, who were ever-ready to hit the streets at the command of the former.

Following Shinde's hand-in-glove with the Shiv Sena in Thane, he found a mentor in a local party stalwart called Anand Dighe.

However, Shinde's political scape took a U-turn after Dighe's sudden death in 2001 while he was severing as Dighe's deputy and was busy strengthening the party in the Thane-Palghar region.

Shinde became a corporation in the Thane Municipal Corporation in 1997 and won his maiden Assembly election in 2004. Later in 2005, he was made the Sena's Thane district chief.

Currently, he is in his fourth term as an MLA, while his son Dr Shrikant Shinde is the Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan in the district.

Shinde was appointed the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a brief period in 2014 when the Sena initially refused to join the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet. The party later joined the BJP-led government, and Shinde became a cabinet minister.

The four-time MLA, who held the urban development and PWD portfolios in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray, never hid his humble origins. On the contrary, he made it a point to mention it to underscore how he has been indebted to the Shiv Sena and its founder, late Bal Thackeray for his rise in Maharashtra politics.

Shinde became a cabinet minister for the second time after the Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP, and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray became chief minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with the NCP and Congress as allies after the 2019 elections,

During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the NCP handling the health ministry, it was the Shinde-controlled Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation that set up healthcare centres in Mumbai and its satellite cities to treat coronavirus patients. His closeness to Fadnavis apparently made the Sena leadership suspicious.

Shinde was made guardian minister of the Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district (along with Thane), which was seen as a put-down he, however, remained a key Sena leader, as he had developed a strong support base of his own.

After managing to take away the majority of Sena MLAs with him and becoming chief minister, Shinde's next challenge would be to rest control of the party organization from Uddhav Thackeray and his loyalists.

Shinde, who is finally holding the top position in the state and receiving congratulatory messages from the political fraternity, has faced a lot and almost crossed the sea to reach here.

Eknath Shinde, who camped in Surat, Gujarat from Maharashtra, had reached Guwahati, including 33 party MLAs and 7 independent MLAs. Talking to the media after reaching Guwahati, Eknath Shinde said that they have 40 MLAs.

Shinde, one of the most loyal leaders of Shiv Sena, had taken more than two dozen MLAs with him while rebelling in the party. Seeing the heating up of the political atmosphere, he had gone to Guwahati, the capital of Assam.

Later, before leaving for Guwahati at Surat airport, he had clearly said that he did not leave Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena and will not leave it further.

''We are following Balasaheb's Hindutva and will take it further,'' he had said.

After reaching Mumbai, he directly went to Devendra Fadnavis's house and met him and on the same day in the evening, Fadnavis announced him as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

The rest is history!

Also Read: Eknath Shinde Sworn in As Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Says Committed To Balasaheb's Hindutva Ideology

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