New Delhi: Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who has proved to be disruptive to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in Maharashtra, enjoys widespread public support and has been instrumental in consolidating the party in the Thane region. Coming from humble origins, Shinde, a fiery orator and a grassroots leader, is known to evoke respect for the Shiv Sena and its founder, the late Bal Thackeray, for his rise in Maharashtra politics. The 58-year-old leader, now a rookie, holds the urban development and PWD portfolios in the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.
Who is Eknath Shinde, the leader behind the Maharashtra political crisis?
Eknath Shinde, born on February 9, 1964, belongs to a Maratha family from Jawali in Satara, and was once an auto-rickshaw driver in Thane city, adjacent to Mumbai. He left his education before completing his graduation and soon joined Shiv Sena in Maharashtra after coming in contact with former Thane supremo of the party, Anand Dighe. Bal Thackeray’s staunch Hindutva outlook and his personality inspired Shinde to join the Shiv Sena in Thane. He soon emerged as a prominent Shiv Sena leader in the Thane-Palghar region.
The sitting MLA from Thane city’s Kopri-Pachpakhadi has never shied away from participating in street politics and has dozens of criminal charges against him such as voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapons and rioting, among others.
Shinde became Anand Dighe’s deputy and strengthened Shiv Sena after the sudden death of Shiv Sena in 2001. The four-time MLA became a corporator in the Thane Municipal Corporation in 1997 and won his first Maharashtra Assembly election in 2004. In 2005, the leader, often seen as the No. 2 leader in Bal Thackeray’s party, was appointed as the party’s Thane district chief. Shinde briefly served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 2014 before joining the Shiv Sena’s BJP-led government. Due to Shinde’s closeness with Devendra Fadnavis, the BJP contested the 2016 election for all municipal bodies in Maharashtra, except the Thane Municipal Corporation (Shinde’s home constituency), against the Shiv Sena. His son Dr. Shrikant Shinde is the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan.
Eknath Shinde turns crook, puts MVA in trouble
After a suspected cross-voting in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections a day earlier, Eknath Shinde turned “incommunicado” on Tuesday (June 21) morning. He was found camping in a hotel on Dumas Road with over 30 rebel MLAs in Surat city on Monday night. Eknath Shinde along with other rebel MLAs took a flight from Surat to Guwahati in Assam on Wednesday morning. Talking to reporters outside Guwahati airport, Shinde claimed he has 40 MLAs, “There are 40 MLAs with me here. An additional 10 MLAs will join me soon. I don’t want to criticize anyone. We are keen to continue the Shiv Sena founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray,” he said.
Eknath Shinde met two Shiv Sena representatives – Milind Narvekar and Ravi Pathak – in Surat on Tuesday, allegedly demanding a Shiv Sena-BJP alliance and joining the saffron camp to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra. Chances are.
(with agency input)