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Thursday, January 8, 2026
TopicEknath Shinde

Topic: Eknath Shinde

Eknath Shinde was the united Shiv Sena’s most senior leader in Thane, a satellite city of Mumbai and a stronghold of the party. The Shiv Sena, launched by Bal Thackeray in 1966, split in 2022 when Eknath Shinde led a rebellion to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. The new faction then formed a government with the BJP, with Shinde as CM. The new party — Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) — now claims to be the real Shiv Sena.

Shinde was brought up in Thane, which continues to be his stronghold. In his early years in the party, he was influenced by Anand Dhige, a prominent Shiv Sena leader in the area. A Shiv Sainik who headed a shakha back in 1980s, Shinde became a corporator in the Thane Municipal Corporation before becoming an MLA in 2004. He has been a member of the assembly for four terms now. In 2019, in the Uddhav Thackeray government, he worked as Minister of Urban Development and Public Works and Minister of Home Affairs (Acting).

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The Shiv Sena leader had left for his native village in Satara district last Friday to recuperate from illness. He was down with a throat infection and fever.

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Shinde has won the battle for the real Shiv Sena in public court and bettered the undivided Shiv Sena’s 2019 performance. But he seems to have lost the race for the CM’s chair.

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PTI -
Shinde told reporters that he had called PM Modi and Amit Shah asking them to take the decision. Shinde’s remark makes the decks clear for BJP to name Fadnavis, a senior leader said.
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