Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavi, Narayan Rane and Ashok Chavan
Now 10 days away from the election results, the BJP will elect the chief minister. Eknath Shinde will have to resign as chairman after the new leader is elected. There are rumors that Eknath Shinde will become the deputy prime minister in the new government. However, this is not the first time that Maharashtra political circles are talking about the chief minister’s demotion.
Three leaders who were chief ministers have joined the cabinet after being demoted. Among them, the names of Devendra Fadnavis, Ashok Chavan and Narayan Rane stand out.
Narayan Raine Story No. 1
In the 1995 Maharashtra election, the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party formed the government, and the post of chief minister was held by the Shiv Sena. Manohar Joshi was appointed chief minister but soon Balasaheb Thackeray handed over the post to Narayan Rane. Raine remained the chief minister of Maharashtra until 1999, but after the defeat of the Congress and NCP, he became isolated.
By 2004, relations between the Wren and Thackeray families began to sour. In 2005, Rane resigned from the Shiv Sena. After leaving the Shiv Sena, Raine joined the Congress.
In 2010, Rane was appointed to the ministerial portfolio in Prithviraj Chavan’s government. Wren served in government in key sectors such as industry and mining. In 2017, Raine resigned from Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In 2021, Rehn was appointed as a central government minister. Currently, Rane is a member of Lok Sabha.
Ashok Chavan was also demoted
After Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned in 2008, Ashok Chavan took over as chief minister. Even when the government was formed in 2009, Chavan was offered the chief minister’s post but had to resign after his name surfaced in the Adarsh scam. Prithviraj Chavan was appointed as Chief Minister, replacing Ashok Chavan.
However, Prithviraj failed to return to power in the 2014 elections. In 2019, when Uddhav Thackeray left the BJP to become chief minister, the Congress supported the Shiv Sena. Ashok Chavan was appointed as a minister under the Congress quota in the new government.
Chavan served as a minister in the Uddhav government for two years. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Ashok Chavan left the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is currently a member of the Bundestag.
Devendra Fadnavis’s name is also in the list
Devendra Fadnavis’ name also appears in the list of leaders demoted from chief minister to cabinet. Devendra Fadnavis, who was sworn in as chief minister in 2014 and 2019, will become deputy chief minister in 2022. In fact, after the Shiv Sena split, the BJP decided to make Eknath Shinde the chief minister.
Thereafter, Fadnavis talked about working in the organization, but after the intervention of the high command, he had to join the cabinet. Fadnavis was appointed deputy chief minister in the government.
Now Eknath Shinde’s name is being discussed
There are rumors that Eknath Shinde will become the deputy chief minister. Eknath Shinde was appointed chief minister by the NDA in 2022, but the political landscape of Maharashtra has changed after the recent election results.
The BJP is close to a majority. In this case, the party decided to establish its own CM.
