Speaking in Maharashtra Assembly, Eknath Shinde broke down as he remembered his family in the Assembly. He said while he was working as a Shiv Sena Corporator in Thane, he lost two of my children and thought everything is over but Anand Dighe convinced him to continue in politics
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde. Twitter/@mieknathshinde
Eknath Shinde on Monday revealed that he was supposed to be made the chief minister of Maharashtra in 2019 in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde also confessed that he “never eyed” the CM post.
Making his maiden speech as the chief minister of Maharashtra after winning the trust vote, Shinde said: “Initially, I was supposed to be made Chief Minister in the MVA government… But later Ajit Dada (Ajit Pawar) or someone said that I should not be made Chief Minister. I had no problem and I told Uddhav ji to go ahead, and that I was with him. I never eyed that post.”
In the crucial floor test in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, Shinde today won by a 164-99 margin.
The strength of the Maharashtra Assembly at present is reduced to 287 After the death of a Shiv Sena MLA recently, thus the majority mark is 144.
Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 MLAs, including Congress’ Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, were absent during the trust vote.
Shinde further said that the MLAs of his factions are Shivsainiks of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe.
“We are Shivsainiks and we will always be Shivsainiks of Balasaheb and Anand Dighe. I want to remind you all who was there who got Bala Saheb’s voting banned for six years,” the Maharashtra chief minister said.
Shinde also thanked his deputy and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for giving him the opportunity to work as a minister (in the last govt ).
“I could work on Samruddhi Mahamarg project. He (Fadnavis) was to give the Deputy Chief Ministerial post to Shiv Sena also (in 2019),” Shinde added.
While addressing the House, Eknath Shinde broke down as he remembered his family in the Assembly. “While I was working as a Shiv Sena Corporator in Thane, I lost two of my children and thought everything is over… I was broken but Anand Dighe Sahab convinced me to continue in politics.”
Shinde further informed the MLAs in the Assembly that Uddhav Thackeray had called him multiple times when he revolted against him.
“I was getting calls from the CM as well. He asked me where are you going. The same question was asked to the MLAs… I want to save Shiv Sena,” Shinde added.
In June, Shinde launched a rebellion against the Shiv Sena and majority of party lawmakers sided with him, which led to the collapse of the MVA government last week.
On 29 June, Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post of Maharashtra chief minister and on the next day (30 June), Shinde took oath as the new CM of the state and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM.
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