# Eknath Shinde

Eknath Sambhaji Shinde (pronunciation:; born 9 February 1964) is an Indian politician who is serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since December 2024 alongside Ajit Pawar under Devendra Fadnavis. He is the chairperson of Shiv Sena since February 2023 and was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from June 2022 to December 2024. He is also the Member of Legislative Assembly for the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane, Maharashtra, since 2009 and was formerly the MLA of Thane constituency from 2004 to 2009.

## Early life

Eknath Shinde hails from 'Dare Tamb' village, Mahabaleshwar taluka in Satara, Maharashtra, and belongs to the Maratha community. His family moved to Thane. He studied until 11th standard at Mangala High School & Junior College, Thane. Shinde left school to support his family financially and worked as an auto-rickshaw driver before joining politics. He later resumed his education after joining the First Fadnavis ministry in 2014 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University in 2020.
Shinde was awarded an honorary D.Litt. (Doctor of Literature) by D.Y. Patil University at the convocation of the university in Navi Mumbai on 28 March 2023, at the hands of Maharashtra governor Ramesh Bais and university chancellor Dr Vijay Patil.

## Early political career
### Entry into politics

Shinde was introduced to politics by then Thane Shiv Sena President Anand Dighe in early 1980. Initially, he was leading the Shiv Sena agitation in the Wagle Estate. He became one of the prominent labour leader in the region. After recognition from Dighe, in 1984 he became a Sakha Pramukh in the Thane. In 1997, he was elected to the Thane Municipal Corporation as a corporator for the first time. Shinde became successor to Dighe's legacy after his death in 2001. Later in 2001 he was elected to the post of the Leader of the House of the Thane Municipal Corporation. In 2002 he was re-elected to the Thane Municipal Corporation for the second time.

#### Maharashtra Legislative Assembly & ministries

He has been elected as Member of Legislative Assembly since 2004 for four consecutive terms.
* 2004 : Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the first time
* 2005 : Appointed as the Thane district head of Shiv Sena. First MLA to have been appointed at such a coveted post in the party
* 2009 : Re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
* 2014 : Re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
** October 2014 – December 2014: Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly** 2014 – 2019: Cabinet Minister of PWD (PU) in Maharashtra State Government
** 2014 – 2019: Appointed as the guardian minister of Thane District
** 2018 : Appointed as a Leader of Shiv Sena Party
** 2019 : Cabinet Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare (Marathi: सार्वजनिक आरोग्य आणि कुटुंब कल्याण) in Maharashtra State Government
* 2019 : Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the fourth consecutive time
** 2019 : Appointed as the minister of Urban Development and Public Works (Public Undertakings)
** 2019 : Appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs (Acting) (28 November 2019 – 30 December 2019)
* 2020 : Appointed as the guardian minister of Thane district
* 2022 : Appointed as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra by the Governor of Maharashtra.
* 2024: Re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 5 December 2024.

### Role in 2022 Maharashtra political crisis

Shinde was in favour of breaking the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance and reestablishing an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. He requested Uddhav Thackeray to break the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance due to ideological differences. Few Shiv Sena members alleged that their complaints were ignored by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde was able to gather 2/3rd of members from his party to support his request. The crisis began on 21 June 2022 when Shinde and several other MLAs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition moved to Surat in the BJP-governed Gujarat, throwing the coalition into a chaos. As a result of Shinde's revolt, Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra and said that he will also resign from the Maharashtra Legislative Council. Shinde successfully reestablished an alliance with the BJP and was sworn in as the 20th Chief minister, with Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis being sworn as the Deputy Chief Minister.

## Leader of Shiv Sena
### Shiv Sena leadership dispute

After Eknath Shinde established the government, he started using the Shiv Sena name and symbols without Uddhav Thackrey's permission. This created issues as Uddhav Thackeray also claimed to be the leader of Shiv Sena. Uddhav's faction challenged this in court, which was eventually moved to the Election Commission of India. The Commission recognized Eknath Shinde's faction as the real Shiv Sena party, which ended the leadership dispute. The Election Commission also found the changes made to the Shiv Sena party constitution in 2018, under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, to be undemocratic. The amendments centralized the party's control and were criticized for not allowing free, fair, and transparent elections for the party positions.

### Political legitimacy

On 4 February 2024, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar ruled that Shinde's faction was the "real Shiv Sena" political party. This decision was a significant setback for the rival faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

### Electoral performance

Under Shinde's leadership, his faction of the Shiv Sena performed well in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party secured 7 seats, demonstrating a higher success rate compared to their alliance partner, the BJP, which won 9 seats in Maharashtra. This electoral success helped consolidate Shinde's position within the state's political landscape.

## Chief Ministership (2022-2024)

On 30 June 2022, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, following a political crisis that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. His appointment came after he led a rebellion within the Shiv Sena party, aligning with the BJP to form a new government.

## Personal life

On 2 June 2000, their son Dipesh (aged 11, born 1989) and daughter Shubhada (aged 8, born 1992) went boating in a lake near their native village in Maharashtra. The boat overturned and both the children died by drowning. Shinde went into a period of depression for several months. Anand Dighe provided emotional support to Shinde and entrusted him with greater responsibility in order to keep his mind occupied and away from depression.
Their surviving child, Shrikant Shinde, is an orthopaedic surgeon who has also been the elected Member of Parliament to the Lok Sabha from the Kalyan constituency since 2014 (re-elected in 2019 and 2024).

## Popular culture

Dharmaveer, a 2022 Indian Marathi-language biographical drama film by Pravin Tarde, covered Anand Dighe and Eknath Shinde's life. Kshitish Date played the role of Eknath Shinde. Eknath Shinde has a starring role in Dharmaveer as one of Dighe’s most loyal foot soldiers.
In September 2024, sequel called Dharmaveer 2 was launched in which Eknath Shinde played a last scene cameo before the end of the film.