- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
IN a dramatic turn of events that would even put a script of India’s Bollywood film fraternity to shame, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde emerged as the next chief minister of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, backed by the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is also the single-largest party in the state assembly.
Shinde, who was a minister in the previous MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray and the legislative group leader, stole the limelight over the last one week or more by leading a faction of rebel Sena lawmakers and taking them to other BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat and Assam and putting pressure on Thackeray who eventually capitulated since too many lawmakers went against him, making his task of proving a majority on the floor next to impossible.
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The latest development not only marks a new political beginning for India’s richest state but also a devastation for the Sena, which was once a political ally of the BJP but broke the ranks to join hands with ideologically opposite parties such as the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.
The man behind the sensational political drama was none but Shinde, the 58-year-old lawmaker from Kopri-Pachpakhadi Assembly constituency in Thane.
Shinde is a strongman from Thane who has been elected as a member of the legislative assembly from the same constituency since 2009. The man hails from a financially modest family which had moved to Thane, on the outskirts of state capital Mumbai, from Satara to earn a living. He studied till Standard XI at Thane’s Mangala High School & Junior College.
Shinde later became an auto-rickshaw driver to support his family.
Two of Shinde’s sons drowned in a lake near their native village, leaving the bereaved father in deep depression. His other son Shrikant has become an orthopaedic surgeon who is also a politician. He has been elected to the Indian parliament from Kalyan constituency of Maharashtra since 2014.
The chief minister-designate of Maharashtra is known to have a strong base, thanks to his years of work at the grassroots level. Shinde was introduced to politics by Anand Dighe, a heavyweight Sena leader, in early 1980. He was given greater responsibility by Dighe so that he could overcome depression through his work. Shinde became a successor to Dighe’s legacy after his death in early 2000s.
