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After governing as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister for the last two-and-a-half years, Shiv Sena Leader Eknath Shinde has had to swallow what is likely to be a bitter pill of accepting the post of Deputy CM in the new government that Devendra Fadnavis is set to helm.

From working in a beer brewery in Thane and driving an autorickshaw to make ends meet, to becoming the most powerful leader in the present Shiv Sena after the Thackerays, Eknath Shinde, 58, became the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra on July 1, 2022.

In a surprise turn of events, the Shiv Sena rebel leader Shinde was sworn in as the CM and BJP leader and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy Chief Minister.

Shinde became the 20th Chief Minister of the state a day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray resigned as CM ahead of a floor test, bringing to an end the 31-month rule of his Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition.

What came as a surprise was the about-turn by Fadnavis. Shortly after he told a press conference that he would not be a part of the government, the central leadership of the party said Fadnavis would be joining the government.

The Shinde family originally belongs to Satara district and moved to Thane in the ’70s when Shinde was just a child. His start was with odd jobs, at places such as a beer brewery and fishery, apart from his stint as an autorickshaw driver, before he began his association with the Shiv Sena in the ’80s.

Shinde soon gained proximity to then Thane district Sena president Anand Dighe, who ran the local unit with an iron fist and was instrumental in making the Shiv Sena a dominant force in the area. As Shinde modelled his appearance too after his mentor, Dighe had rewarded his loyalty with helping him win a seat in the Thane Municipal Corporation in 1997.

Dighe was also there for Shinde when he lost his children to a drowning accident in 2000, which caused him to withdraw into a shell. Dighe is said to have goaded Shinde back, making him the leader of the house in the Thane Municipal Corporation.

After Dighe’s death in August 2001, Shinde filled the void left in the Shiv Sena’s Thane unit. In 2004, he became an MLA, winning the Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat, and has represented the constituency for four consecutive terms.

Since 2019, when the Shiv Sena dumped the BJP to form an unlikely triumvirate with the Congress and NCP to form the government in Maharashtra, there have been constant murmurs about Shinde’s unhappiness with the political arrangement. Many within the Shiv Sena and its allies the Congress and NCP have long feared Shinde to be the weak link as the BJP made constant attacks on the government. The impression has been further strengthened by the BJP sparing Shinde even as it went after all other major MVA leaders.