Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.
The decision came after Shinde spearheaded a coup of sorts for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Maharashtra by rebelling, along with over 39 party lawmakers, who moved from Mumbai to Surat to Goa and finally back to Mumbai today morning.
The rebellion, that followed hectic political activities and even reached to the top court, eventually led to downfall of ruling alliance, comprising Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress, with the resignation of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on June 29. With Thackeray's resignation, the scheduled trust vote on June 30 was not required.
READ | Uddhav Thackeray resigns as Maharashtra CM: Here's how netizens, leaders are reacting
"BJP has 120 MLAs but despite that Devendra Fadnavis didn't take the post of CM. I express my gratitude to him along with PM Modi, Amit Shah & other BJP leaders that they showed generosity and made Balasaheb's Sainik (party-worker) the CM of the state," Shinde said on June 30.
Not many times in the history of politics in India has a rebel leader become a chief minister of a state with the support of Opposition party. In earlier such example, TDP leader Nadendla Bhaskara Rao had rebelled against his party and became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh with the support of Congress in August 1984. Rao joined the BJP in 2019.
BJP's surprising decision to make Shinde the chief minister is being perceived as a move to elevate the Shiv Sena leader as an alternative to Uddhav Thackeray.
Here is all you need to know about Eknath Shinde, the new chief minister of Maharashtra:
Shinde, 58 is one of the senior-most leaders of the Shiv Sena who was minister of urban affairs in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government of Maharashtra. His son Shrikant Shinde is a Lok Sabha member of parliament while his brother Prakash Shinde is a Councillor.
Shinde, who moved to a hotel in Gujarat's Surat with the group of rebel MLAs, is Sena's popular leader in Thane where he is credited for strengthening the party.
Born in 1964, Shinde hails from the Maratha community and is said to have left education early to make a living. However, after becoming the minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government in 2014, Shinde resumed his studies and graduated in education from Yashvantrao Chavan Open University, Maharashtra.
Shinde came under the influence of Shiv Sena supremo, late Bal Thackeray, and Shiv Sena's Thane district chief Anand Dighe while doing odd jobs and eventually joined Shiv Sena in the 1980s.
Shinde started his political career in 1997 when he was elected to Thane Municipal Corporation as corporator for the first time. In 2001, he became leader of the house in Thane Municipal Corporation and was elected to Thane Municipal Corporation for the second time in 2002.
He won the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election for the first time in 2004 from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane and has been an MLA since then, winning for four consecutive terms. In 2005, he has appointed the Thane district head of Shiv Sena, the first MLA to have been appointed at such a coveted post in the party
Also, read | Maharashtra crisis: Shiv Sena removes Eknath Shinde as chief whip after he leaves for Surat with 'rebel' MLAs
Shinde was appointed as the leader of the legislative party of Shiv Sena after his 2014 win and then the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly before Uddhav Thackeray became the chief minister of the MVA government in November 2019. Shinde was, however, removed as the leader of the legislative party of Shiv Sena after his rebellion on June 21.
Shinde was made cabinet minister for Urban Development and Public Works (Public Undertakings) in the MVA government in 2019 and he was the minister of urban affairs in the outgoing dispensation. There had been reports that Shinde was upset with the Sena leadership for being sidelined.
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