Putting a full stop to week-long political drama in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra respectively on Thursday evening.
A day after former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey resigned, Shiv Sena rebel leader along with former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra respectively. The duo of Shinde and Fadnavis were administered the oath by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhawan on Thursday evening. As of now, only the CM and his deputy took the oath. This put an end to a week-long political drama. The development of Shinde taking oath as Chief Minister, put everyone into shock as people were expecting Fadnavis to be CM and Shinde to be his deputy but the opposite happened.
After taking oath Chief Minister Shinde addressed the media and said, “ This is the victory of the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray and ‘Dharmaveer’ Anand Dighe. Our government will work in the interest of the general people and for the development of the state”. Shinde was announced as Chief Minister by Devendra Fadnavis after the duo met the governor earlier in the day to stake a claim to form the government. Earlier Fadnavis declared that he would not be a part of the government and would support the government from outside, but things changed when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President J.P. Nadda came before the media and requested Fadnavis to take the role of deputy CM in the government.
Shinde, was the minister of urban development in the previous Uddhav Thackrey-led government, due to differences with his boss, Shinde rebelled against the Chief Minister and took 39 MLAs with him to Guwahati, which reduced the MVA government to a minority.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court refused to put a stay on the floor test, which was declared by the Governor of Maharashtra after which Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey resigned knowing that he didn’t have the numbers to pass the floor test.
Who is Eknath Shinde?
Eknath Shinde was born on 9th February 1964 in Thane of Maharashtra. It is said that Shinde left his education early due to the poor financial condition of his family. Before joining politics Shinde worked as an auto driver to earn his living, he was influenced by the ideologies of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackrey from his school days.
In the 1980’s he was introduced to the party by Anand Dighe the then Shiv Sena president of the Thane unit, in the same year he began to work for the party at the grassroots as a Sainik. In 1997, Shinde made his political debut and contested the elections of the Thane Municipal Corporation, and was elected as a councilor. In the year 2000 Shinde got the position of Mayor in Thane Municipal Corporation.
In 2004, he made his assembly elections debut and entered Maharashtra Assembly for the 1st time, after winning from Kopri- Pachpakhadi constituency and he still represents this seat. After the death of Bal Thackrey, the current Chief Minister of Maharashtra became the number 2 man in the party after Uddhav Thackrey. Shinde was made leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra assembly for a few days in 2014, later Shinde played a key role in the patch-up of BJP and Shiv Sena. Shinde served as the minister of the PWD department in the Devendra Fadnavis led BJP- Sena government.
Shinde also got the chance to serve as a minister for Urban Development in the MVA government, but since then there have been constant talks about Shinde’s dissatisfaction with the MVA government. Later, the speculations turned out to be true and Shinde became a rebel of his own government and he along with his 39 MLAs took back support from the government, which led Uddhav Thackrey to resign as CM of Maharashtra. On 30th June 2022 Shinde took oath as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Why did BJP choose Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister?
By naming Eknath Shinde as the Chief Minister, the BJP tried to give a message that it is not a power-hungry party. Since Eknath Shinde became a rebel leader, he has started claiming that he and his group of MLAs is the real Shiv Sena, by naming Eknath Shinde the CM the BJP wants to send the message that it is a Shiv Sena-led government. In the coming days, both camps of the Sena, the Uddhav camp, and the Shinde camp are expected to fight for the party symbol which will make the Sena weaker and it will make BJP’s job easier.
By making Shinde Chief Minister BJP is hoping to give a tough fight to Sarad Pawar’s NCP in the next election as Shinde comes from Western Maharashtra, which is a stronghold for Pawar and NCP. BJP is also eyeing 32% of Maratha votes in the state by making a Maratha CM. And most importantly by making an ex-auto driver CM, BJP tries to give the message it doesn’t believe in dynasty politics.
