What went wrong with Eknath Shinde?
After 29 months, the Maharashtra chief minister’s chair has been transferred to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde. Devendra Fadnavis will be the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Sindh Group will play the role of number two in the government. It is said that this is because of the number of seats, but even in 2022 when Eknath Shinde rebels against the Shiv Sena, his MLAs will be less than those of the BJP, but At that time, he was offered the post of chief minister.
Not only that, the BJP has fewer seats than the BJP in Bihar. Despite this, Nitish Kumar remained as chief minister. In this case, the question being discussed was what mistake Eknath Shinde made that led to him having to resign as chief minister.
14 MLAs support BJP
Shinde’s army won 57 assembly seats in the Maharashtra state elections. Of these, 14 MLAs are supported by the BJP. The winning six MLAs were declared by the BJP.
Among them, the famous names are Rajendra Gavit of Palghar, Nilesh Rane of Kudar, Murji Patel of Andheri (East), Anmol of Sangammer · Hatar, Vital Lange of Nevassa and Vilas Tare of Boisal.
Before the election, Shinde also gave tickets to four independents, who won and became MLAs. The BJP is also said to have played a role in getting tickets for these independents.
In this case, these MLAs may lose their support if Shinde rebels against the BJP. This is what happened in Bihar in 2022 with Mukesh Sahni. All MLAs from Sani sided with the BJP, after which Sani fell into disgrace.
Can’t resist Ajit
In 2022, the Sindhi faction of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party will jointly form the government. Exactly a year later, Devendra Fadnavis defeated Ajit Pawar. Ajit’s alliance proved detrimental to Shinde. Shinde was unable to exert political pressure on the BJP because of Ajit.
To form the government in Maharashtra, 145 MLAs are needed. The BJP currently has 132 MLAs. Ajit’s party won 41 seats. Shinde has 57 MLAs, but his withdrawal will not affect the health of the government.
When Ajit joined the NDA, there was mild opposition, but Fadnavis continued to advocate vigorously. After the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, even the Sangh magazine Organizer opposed Ajit, but Shinde was unable to make it an issue for the alliance.
Ajit became animated when Shinde returned to his village after the elections and heard news of his displeasure.
No public appearances before the election
Nitish Kumar declares himself as chief minister before every election. Even in 2015, when Nitish was with Lalu, he announced his list of chief ministers. In 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party also participated in the elections as Nitish.
Interestingly, even before the 2025 elections, Nitish has already announced his name in the NDA for the CM post. Shinde was unable to make the same statement ahead of the Maharashtra elections.
Shinde has been calling the post-election victory a victory for jobs, but he did not show up before the election. After the election, the BJP claimed the post of chief minister based on the seat-based formula.
The name was not decided in advance, so there was nothing Shinde could do about it. Even on moral grounds, the BJP is not backing down.
Deputy Fadnavis becomes boss
Devendra Fadnavis, who became Eknath Shinde’s deputy in 2022, has now become his boss. The BJP appointed Fadnavis as chief minister. Fadnavis has been the face of the BJP in Maharashtra and served as chief minister from 2014 to 2019.
When Shinde becomes chief minister in 2022, Fadnavis was appointed as his deputy in the government. It was only after this that Fadnavis began to lay out the political chessboard. To ease the political pressure on Eknath in the NDA, Fadnavis appointed Ajit Pawar.
At the height of the campaign for the 2024 assembly elections, the BJP was slowly raising Fadnavis’ name. Fadnavis has since spoken out. Fadnavis held around 56 rallies throughout the election, the most among any state-level leaders.
