Eknath Shinde: Rebelled against Uddhav and became CM…How was the entire political journey from auto driver to becoming Deputy CM

Eknath Shinde Profile – A Journey Auto Driver to Deputy CM: Senior leader Eknath Sambhaji Shinde, who rebelled against Shiv Sena in the year 2022, has acquired the image of a flamboyant and hardworking leader in Maharashtra, which he shaped during his two and a half year tenure as Chief Minister during the leadership of the Mahayuti government. Shinde (60) on Thursday took oath as Deputy Chief Minister in the new government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis. Some of his (Shinde’s) ardent supporters may be calling it a “demotion”, but Shinde, who was once an auto-rickshaw driver, performed strongly in the recent assembly elections and played an important role in the victory of Mahayuti.

In the Maharashtra Assembly elections held in November, Shinde was elected MLA from Kopri-Pachpakhadi in Thane district and he also led the party to a landslide victory. Shinde-led Shiv Sena contested 81 seats, winning 57 of them. At the same time, rival Shiv Sena (Ubhatha) led by Uddhav Thackeray performed very poorly and could win only 20 seats. During his tenure as Chief Minister (June 30, 2022 to December 4, 2024), Shinde built an image as an always available leader and implemented projects like Mumbai Coastal Road, Mumbai Trans Harbor Link (Atal Setu, Metro Rail, Navi Mumbai International Airport, Pushed forward big projects like Mumbai-Nagpur Samriddhi Mahamarg and Dharavi Redevelopment.

Shinde played an important role in the landslide victory of the ruling grand alliance in the assembly elections and the Ladki Bahin scheme brought by his government for women proved to be a game changer. This scheme became so popular among women that the Shiv Sena leader also came to be known as ‘Ladka Bhau’. The biggest quality of the Shiv Sena leader, who started his political career from Thane district, was his accessibility to the people and party workers. Seeing Shinde’s determined work in politics and his results, we can claim that he is the real heir to Shiv Sena’s legacy.

When Shinde rebelled against Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022, his move appeared to jeopardize his political career, but after two and a half years he emerged very strong. He not only established himself as an important leader in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, but also became one of the most influential personalities of Maharashtra.

Shinde, who once worked as an auto driver in Thane city adjacent to Mumbai, after entering politics, made his mark as a prominent leader of Shiv Sena in Thane-Palghar region in a very short time. He was known for aggressively raising issues related to the public. Born on February 9, 1964, Shinde left his studies before completing his graduation and joined the emerging Shiv Sena in the state. Shinde, who originally hails from Satara district of western Maharashtra, made Thane district his area of ​​work. Influenced by the party’s Hindutva ideology and the personality of Bal Thackeray, Shinde joined Shiv Sena.

He says he is indebted to Shiv Sena and its founder, the late Bal Thackeray, for his rise in Maharashtra politics. After joining Shiv Sena, he got the guidance of strong party leader Anand Dighe. After Dighe’s sudden death in 2001, he strengthened the party in the Thane-Palghar region. Shinde was elected councilor in Thane Municipal Corporation in 1997 and after this he became MLA for the first time by winning the 2004 assembly elections. In 2005, he was made the Thane district chief of Shiv Sena. Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde is a Lok Sabha member from Kalyan seat.

Shinde was briefly appointed leader of the opposition in the state assembly in 2014. He took over the post after Shiv Sena decided not to join the Devendra Fadnavis cabinet. Shinde’s influence increased when after the 2014 assembly elections, Shiv Sena joined hands with BJP and formed the government under the leadership of Fadnavis in which he was a minister. Shinde came close to then Chief Minister Fadnavis (2014–19) and their closeness became a topic of discussion and except Thane Municipal Corporation, BJP contested all municipal elections in Maharashtra against Shiv Sena in 2016.

When Shiv Sena broke ties with BJP and formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with NCP and Congress in late 2019, he became a cabinet minister. During the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the NCP holding the health ministry, the Shinde-controlled Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation set up health centers in Mumbai and its suburbs to treat coronavirus patients. Shinde is considered a grassroots leader as he is always available to party workers and colleagues.

The script of snatching Shiv Sena from Uddhav Thackeray had already been written on 20 June 2022 when Eknath Shinde rebelled against Mahavikas Aghadi and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. In this rebellion, Shinde had the support of 40 Shiv Sena MLAs and 10 independent MLAs. Overall, with the support of 50 MLAs, Eknath Shinde rebelled against Mahavikas Aghadi and reduced his government to minority. A big question here was that why and how did Shinde carry out this rebellion?

There are two stories of Eknath Shinde’s rebellion from Shiv Sena, the first incident starts in the MLC elections in Maharashtra where elections were being held for 10 Legislative Council seats. In this election, BJP showed wisdom and fielded an additional candidate. Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP understood that BJP has played this game to get cross voting. Later, whatever was feared turned out to be true. Uddhav Thackeray had obtained information from his inputs that this cross voting was done by Shiv Sena MLAs. He immediately called a meeting of MLAs. 11 MLAs including Eknath Shinde were missing from this meeting. By then there was a split in Shiv Sena.

Now fears of a major rebellion by Shiv Sena had begun. Even before CM Uddhav Thackeray could recover from this shock, news came in the media that more than a dozen Shiv Sena MLAs had reached a hotel in Surat. All of them had reached Surat in support of Eknath Shinde. From here the second story of Shinde’s rebellion began. Now, on one hand, the Uddhav group started trying to assert itself and became aggressive and started making threats and statements. All the MLAs from Surat were brought to Guwahati in Assam. Now sensing the current danger, Uddhav Thackeray started a meeting with Congress and NCP but the message had been received that a big and decisive game was taking place inside.

The matter became even more serious for Shiv Sena when Eknath Shinde came in front of the media and said that he had the support of more than 40 MLAs. If Shinde had less than this number of MLAs, then under the anti-defection law, the political career of all the rebel MLAs including Shinde would have been in danger. This numerical strength proved to be the biggest plus point for Shinde, he had numerical strength, Uddhav Thackeray was well aware of this. He also made an emotional appeal to the people of Maharashtra that if the rebel MLAs wanted him to take the post of CM. If he had to resign, he would do so, but by then the spark of rebellion had turned into flames.

The restlessness and restlessness of the Uddhav group was clearly visible among its workers also. Meanwhile, BJP was watching everything peacefully while maintaining silence. She was waiting for Shinde to play all the tricks and then the day came when BJP played its trick and asked the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the floor test. Through a letter, it was demanded that Uddhav should form his government. Prove majority. On June 30, he had a lot to prove and Uddhav went to the Supreme Court but did not get relief from there either. When Uddhav realized that now the government was certain to fall, he thought it better to resign. On the other hand, BJP supported Eknath Shinde and made him the Chief Minister. In this way Eknath Shinde captured both Shiv Sena and CM’s chair.

The Governor also showed speed and asked to prove his majority on June 30. Uddhav went to the Supreme Court and filed a petition against the float test, but the timing was so bad that no relief was received from there either. Uddhav had understood that if he went for the float test, the fall of his government was certain. The number was not with him, so he thought it best to resign. There was resignation, on the other hand BJP made Eknath Shinde the Chief Minister. So in this way Shiv Sena also became Shinde’s and the chair of Chief Minister also came into his hands.