Eknath Shinde

Shinde, a four-time MLA, began oath taking by paying tributes to late Shiv Sena leaders Bal Thackeray and Anand Dighe, his political mentor in Thane district.

- - - - Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. The new CM was accompanied by his family members to the inauguration.

Mumbai: As Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde and the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis announced plans for the next Maharashtra government this evening, there was a big ...

In 2019, the BJP could not form government despite winning the election in an alliance with the Shiv Sena, its oldest ally. Mr Fadnavis was widely tipped to be the Chief Minister, with Mr Shinde as his deputy. The Thackerays commanded complete devotion from the party, and their word was final.

Former chief minister and Shiv Sena party chief, Uddhav Thackeray, was merely responding to his moves. Shinde first moved to Surat, along with 16 MLAs, all ...

“With Shinde claiming “I am the real Shiv Sena” and that two-third numbers are with me; this makes Thackeray group a rebelling camp. Whether he chooses to go with Shinde, or chooses to take a legal path, this will be clearer only in the days to come. Now that Shinde has continued to maintain that he is the “real” Sena, it would have to be proved before the assembly speaker as to who is the real Sena here, Venkatesan adds. With Thackeray appearing fragile in his party, the real threat would be to reign control over the Sena corporators in the city. Shinde has maintained that he is the “real Sena” and he never abandoned the party. Now with the change in government, the application before the Supreme Court could well be infructuous, says V. Venkatesan, editor of Leaflet and author of the book Constitutional Conundrums: Challenges to India’s Democratic Process. If Thackeray and his camp wishes, they will have to file a fresh petition now. Their candidature was decided by Thackeray ji, he continues to be the one that runs the real Shiv Sena party,” said a senior party leader. Thackeray’s camp has also claimed that Shinde’s “whip” (which is considered a binding direction on the party) is not valid. While Shinde is the new chief minister, Fadnavis is the state deputy chief minister. On June 30, Shinde finally returned to Mumbai after 10 days and addressed the press with former state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on his side. He showed the power of taking such a large number of MLAs to Guwahati. He inspired people to quit Shiv Sena. I don’t know if it happened earlier. While congratulating Shinde on the new position, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on June 30 commented on the BJP’s claims that it had nothing to do with the Maharshtra political crisis.

Such public display of confusion is not known in a party with its strict emphasis on planning and discipline. But if Devendra Fadnavis appeared to be not in ...

It shows the character of our party and our leader and that we are not working for power but for our ideology… The BJP leader who was a surprise choice for CM in 2014 was also seen to have risen too fast in a party that prefers its ranks to keep a low-profile. On Thursday evening, even as Fadnavis announced at a press conference in Mumbai that Shinde will be the next CM while he would not be a part of the government, in the national capital, Nadda declared that the BJP leader would be Deputy CM. ”Fadnavis has just now announced that Eknath Shinde will be the CM of Maharashtra and he will not be part of the government. Other leaders such as Vinod Tawde and Chandraskhekhar Bawankule also suspected Fadnavis’s hand in the denial of tickets to them in the 2019 Assembly polls, and were in fact accommodated by the BJP later. With Lok Sabha and Assembly elections scheduled in 2024, the BJP sees very little time left for it to fast-track its mega flagship projects, and Fadnavis, having been CM earlier, could be best placed to push them. Fadnavis in fact visited the national capital twice to hold discussions with both Home Minister Amit Shah and Nadda, but was not apparently given the full picture.

Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde will be the new Maharashtra Chief Minister, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis announced.

Earlier today, a spokesperson of the Shinde camp, Deepak Kesarkar said that rebels have given Shinde full authority to take a decision on the cabinet berth-sharing in the government. Shiv Sena leadership had differences with its pre-poll ally BJP and wanted the post of Chief Minister. I am resigning as the CM and as an MLC,” he said.