The newly sworn in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been the talk of the town since a week. The political leader who shook Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, taking the majority- 40 MLAs to his side making a split in the party, is one of the most popular Sena leaders in the state.
Born on February 9, 1964, Shinde, a Maratha, moved from his hometown Satara to Thane to complete his education. He studied at Mangala High School and Junior College in Thane, but had to leave his education midway as his family needed economic support. This is the time he found work as an auto-rickshaw driver in the area. It was during this time he is said to have come in contact with the firebrand leader Anand Dighe who persuaded and inspired him to become a full-time Shiv Sainik.
Shinde joined the Shiv Sena in 1980 after being influenced by Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray and participated in several agitations during that period. He spent 40 days in prison after being arrested during the protests at the Maharashtra-Karnataka border over the status of Belagavi. Seeing his dedication to the Shiv Sena and Balasaheb Thackeray, the party gave him his first political opportunity in 1997 by giving him a ticket to contest in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). His hard work proved fruitful and he won with a huge margin. Later in 2001, he was elected as the Leader of the House in the Thane Municipal Corporation and in 2004 contested Assembly polls from the Thane Assembly constituency and won with a handsome majority.
Currently a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Kopri-Pachpakhadi (Vidhan Sabha constituency) of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde has been elected for four back-to-back terms in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly — 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019. Since 2004, he has won four consecutive elections, while his son, Shrikant Shinde, is a Sena Member of Parliament from Kalyan. 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 after the Shiv Sena parted ways with the BJP.
Eknath Shinde has led the Urban Development Department in the Thackeray-led Maharashtra State Government. The Urban Development Department is mostly kept to itself by the Chief Ministers. However, Uddhav Thackeray delegated the account to Eknath Shinde. Figures on how much Eknath Shinde’s wealth has grown in the last three years are still forthcoming. However, his election affidavit includes the entire 2019 audit.
Shinde owns seven vehicles, which includes two Scorpio, two Innova, and one Armada, Balero and a tempo. All together, these vehicles were priced at Rs 46 lakh in 2019. Coming to Gold, Shinde stated in his affidavit that he owns 110 grams of gold worth Rs 4 lakh 12 thousand, while his wife owns 580 grams. All this gold was worth Rs 25 lakh 87 thousand, along with one revolver and one pistol. Regarding land assets, Eknath Shinde and his wife own Rs 28 lakh in agricultural land as of 2019. It has reportedly risen recently. Dare village in Mahabaleshwar has 5 hectares of land or approximately 12 acres. His wife owns 1.26 hectares of land in Chikhalgaon, Thane. Eknath Shinde stated that he had a debt of Rs 3.74 crore in 2019. This includes TJSB’s Rs 2.61 crore home loan. And a Realty loan of Rs 98 lakhs.
Investment: Shivam Transport – 3 lakh, Shivam Enterprises – 11 lakh, Bombay Food Packers – 8 lakh
Property:- 1) Residential building
One room – Dhotre Chawl, Wagle Estate, Thane West: 360 sq. ft.
One flat – Landmark Co-op Housing Society: 2370 sq. ft.
One flat under his’s wife name, Shivshakti Bhavan: 1090 sq. ft
One flat – Landmark Co-op Housing Society: 2370 sq. ft
The current market value of houses and flats is 9 crores 45 lakhs.
2) Commercial buildings
In Wagle Estate, he runs a shop worth Rs 30 lakh in his wife’s name.
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