CM Eknath Shinde: Former auto driver and Sena street-fighter now in driving seat in Maharashtra

Eknath Sambhaji Shinde who on Thursday became the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra once drove autorickshaw to earn a living before rising as a formidable Shiv Sena leaderThe 58yearold leader who hails from western Maharashtras Satara district shifted to Thane a Sena bastion adjacent to Mumbai in his young days and started his political career in the same cityThe fourtime MLA who held the urban development and PWD portfolios in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray never hid his humble originsOn the contrary he made it a point to mention it to underscore how he has been indebted to the Shiv Sena and its founder late Bal Thackeray for his rise in Maharashtra politicsBorn on February 9 1964 Shinde dropped out of college before completing graduation After moving to Thane he soon found his calling as one among thousands of Shiv Sena cadres who were everready to hit the streets at the command of Bal ThackerayThackeray formed Shiv Sena in 1966 as a party fighting for the rights of the sonsofthesoil Marathispeakers and later aggressively championed the cause of HindutvaAs Shinde joined the Sena in Thane he found a mentor in local party stalwart Anand Dighe He became Dighes deputy and strengthened the party in ThanePalghar region after Dighes sudden death in 2001The sitting MLA from KopriPachpakhadi in Thane city Shinde was once a quintessential Shiv Sena streetfighter He faces dozens of criminal cases for charges such as voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and rioting registered during various party agitationsHe became a corporator in the Thane Municipal Corporation in 1997 and won his maiden Assembly election in 2004 In 2005 he was made the Senas Thane district chiefCurrently he is in his fourth term as an MLA while his son Dr Shrikant Shinde is the Lok Sabha MP from Kalyan in the districtShinde was appointed the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for a brief period in 2014 when the Sena initially refused to join the Devendra Fadnavis cabinetThe party later joined the BJPled government and Shinde became a cabinet ministerHis closeness to Chief Minister Fadnavis set tongues wagging It was also noted that the BJP contested elections to all civic bodies in Maharashtra in 2016 against the alliance partner Shiv Sena except in Thane Shindes home turfWhen the Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray became chief minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA government with the NCP and Congress as allies after the 2019 elections Shinde became a cabinet minister for the second timeDuring the Covid19 pandemic despite the NCP handling the health ministry it was Shindecontrolled Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation that set up healthcare centres in Mumbai and its satellite cities to treat coronavirus patientsHis closeness to Fadnavis apparently made the Sena leadership suspicious Shinde was made guardian minister of the Naxalhit Gadchiroli district along with Thane which was seen as a putdownShinde however remained a key Sena leader as he had developed a strong support base of his ownHe is known to be always accessible to party workers and colleagues and visits the homes of ordinary party workers oftenAfter managing to take away majority of Sena MLAs with him and becoming chief minister Shindes next challenge would be to wrest control the party organization from Uddhav Thackeray and his loyalistsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever