Story of Eknath Shinde, who shook Uddhav’s throne

It’s June 2, 2000. Eknath Shinde had gone to Satara with his 11-year-old son Dipesh and 7-year-old daughter Shubhada. An accident happened while boating and both Shinde’s children drowned in front of his eyes. At that time, Shinde’s third child, Shrikant, was just 14 years old.

Recalling this painful incident in an interview, Eknath Shinde had said, ‘It was the darkest day of my life. I was completely broken. I decided to drop everything. Politics too. It has been 22 years since this incident. At present, Eknath Shinde has shaken the throne of Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray. Let us know how Shinde’s stature, who had once decided to leave politics, became so big in Shiv Sena? How did he manage to win over two-thirds of the party’s MLAs?

Balasaheb was also terrified of Shinde’s political guru

Eknath Shinde was born on 9 February 1964. He is a resident of Pahari Jawali taluka of Satara district of Maharashtra, but his work land remained Thane. Initially, Shinde used to drive an auto in Thane. Impressed by Shiv Sena’s strong leader Anand Dighe, he joined Shiv Sena. Dighe was Eknath Shinde’s political guru. Shinde was first elected the branch chief of Shiv Sena and then the corporator of Thane Municipal. When Shinde decided to leave politics after the death of his son, it was Dighe who brought him back.

Shinde gets a political legacy after Anand Dighe’s sudden death

Suddenly on 26 August 2001, Dighe died in an accident. His death is still considered by many to be murder. Recently a film on Dighe’s death has also come out in Marathi named Dharamveer. Dighe was also known as Dharamveer. After Dighe’s death, the Shiv Sena needed a face to maintain its supremacy in Thane. The Thackeray family could not leave Thane with a relaxed attitude. The reason is that Thane is a big district of Maharashtra. Since Shinde was associated with Dighe from the very beginning, Shinde got his political legacy. Shinde also planted and watered the seeds of heritage properly.

Shinde reached the assembly by winning four consecutive times

Like his guru, Shinde was also a leader of the people. Became MLA for the first time in the year 2004. After that never looked back. Soon, he created such dominance in Thane that he became the center of politics there. In 2009, 2014, and 2019 assembly elections too, the eyes of victory tied on his forehead. In 2014, he also became the Leader of the Opposition. Shinde always held important portfolios while serving as a minister. In 2014, he was the PWD minister in the Fadnavis government. After this, in 2019, Shinde got the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Health and Family Welfare and Urban Development. In Maharashtra, CM usually keeps this department with him.

Shinde’s son and Fadnavis behind the rebellion

To increase his dominance, Shinde also fielded his son. Shrikant Shinde, a doctor by profession, is an MP from the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat. It is also being said that the pressure of his son Shrikant is behind Shinde’s rebellion. Srikkanth says that his politics with BJP has a golden future. The BJP too, especially former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has always strengthened Eknath Shinde inside. Fadnavis knew that Shinde was the strongest link to revolt against Uddhvav Thackeray. The BJP has said on several occasions that Shinde is being sidelined. It was the BJP that made Shinde realize time and again that he had no importance in Shiv Sena. When there was an atmosphere around that Shinde is angry with Thackeray and can leave anytime, Thackeray also distanced himself from Shinde.

Eknath Shinde was making his inroads in Shiv Sena

Shinde, who started his political journey in the Thane district of Maharashtra, was called Uddhav Thackeray’s messenger. Whenever there was any political crisis in any district, it was Eknath Shinde who used to go to solve it. A hallmark of this was also seen during Covid. In the last two years, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray neither held any major meetings nor met many of the MLAs. Instead of Thackeray, Shinde continued to meet the MLAs and solve their problems. It was here that he won the confidence of the Shiv Sena MLAs and prepared them for rebellion.