Maharashtra political crisis: Who is Eknath Shinde?
Highlights
- The Sena leader enjoys popular support and is responsible for organising the party's big events
- Eknath Shinde is a big name in Thane
- He had recently accompanied Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray on his trip to Ayodhya
Maharashtra political crisis: Eknath Shinde, the current Minister of urban affairs in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, has gone incommunicado. This comes a day after the ruling MVA suffered a setback in the state Legislative Council polls by losing one out of the six seats it contested.
A top leader of the Shiv Sena, Shinde is a big name in Thane. Not just in Thane, Shinde is responsible for strengthening the party in many other places as well.
The Sena MLA had recently accompanied Maharashtra Minister Aditya Thackeray on his trip to Ayodhya.
He has been elected consecutively for four terms in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly -- 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. After his 2014 win, he was elected as the leader of the legislative party of Shiv Sena and subsequently the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.
The Sena leader enjoys popular support and is responsible for organising the party's big events.
His son Shrikant Shinde is a Lok Sabha MP and his brother Prakash Shinde is a Councillor.
Meanwhile, some Sena MLAs are believed to be in touch with Shinde.
However, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut asserted that the Sena is a party of loyalists and attempts by the BJP, like in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, to topple the MVA government would not succeed.
