Eknath Shinde is an Indian politician. He was appointed as the Cabinet Minister of Urban Development and Public Works (Public Undertakings) in the Government of Maharashtra in 2019 soon after he won the Legislative Assembly elections from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane, Maharashtra on the ticket of Shiv Sena. He was chosen as the Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for four terms including 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019.
Wiki/Biography
Eknath Shinde was born on Sunday, 9 February 1964 (age 58 years; as of 2022) in Mumbai. His zodiac sign is Aquarius. In 1981, he completed his 11th class at Mangala High School & Junior College, Thane. In 2014, after venturing into politics when he became a minister in the BJP-Shivsena government, he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in distinction from Yashvantrao Chavan Open University, Maharashtra. His main subjects were Marathi and Politics.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
His father’s name is Sambhaji Navlu Shinde. His mother’s name is not known.
A picture of Eknath Shinde’s mother
Wife & Children
He is married to Lata Eknath Shinde who is in the construction business. The couple has a son named Shrikant Shinde who is a politician and an orthopaedic surgeon. Dr Shrikant Shinde contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Kalyan constituency in 2014 and was elected as a Member of Parliament by defeating his opponent Anand Paranjape, the NCP’s candidate.
Eknath Shinde with his family
Address
He resides at Bungalow No. 5 & 6, Landmark Society, Louiswadi Service Road, Thane-400604, Maharashtra.
Career
Eknath Shinde studied till eleventh class and quit his studies to earn a livelihood for his family. In the 1980s, when he was into a small job, he was introduced to Shivsena supremo Bal Thackeray and Shivsena’s Thane District Chief Anand Dighe, who helped him to join Shiv Sena. Soon after joining Shiv Sena, he was elected as the Shakha Pramukh of Kisan Nagar in 1980. Subsequently, he started initiating several political and social rallies, which were focused on the issues such as inflation, black marketing, hoarding of essential commodities such as palm oil by traders etc. He was detained by the police for forty days for participating in the Maharashtra-Karnataka Border agitation. He was appointed as the Corporator of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) in 1997. In 2001, he was nominated as a Leader of the house in TMC, and he served the position till 2004. After the demise of Anand Dighe, he was appointed as the chief of the Thane district in 2001. Gradually, Shiv Sena grabbed the kingship in the Thane Municipal Corporation, Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation, Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, Bhiwandi Municipal Corporation, Ambernath Municipal Council, and Badlapur Municipal Council under Eknath Shinde’s guidance. In 2004, Bal Thackeray gave him the opportunity to contest the assembly elections, and he was elected as MLA from the Thane legislative assembly constituency with a great margin of votes. In 2005, Shiv Sena designated him as the Thane District Head. The consecutive legislative assembly elections in 2009, 2014, and 2019 were won by him that led to his appointment as the leader of the legislative party of Shiv Sena and the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly. Eknath Shinde was designated as the Minister of Public Works in December 2019. He was granted the additional duty as chairman of the Maharashtra State Roads Development Corporation (MSRDC). In 2019, he was designated as the Health Minister of Maharashtra, and soon, he hit the headlines for filling the 890 posts of MBBS doctors and specialists in several hospitals, issuing regulations to pay salaries to the contract workers under the National Health Scheme, establishing dialysis centres in sub-district hospitals, authorising 60 dispensaries under the ‘Balasaheb Thackeray Aapla Dawakhana’ scheme. He also began a Mahavir Jain Hospital at Hajuri in Thane in a joint venture with the Thane Municipality and an NGO named Jito. He was designated as the Minister for Public Works Department (Public Undertakings) with the additional responsibility of the Health and Family Welfare Ministry in 2019.
Assets/Properties
Movable Assets
- Deposits in Banks: Rs. 32,64,760
- Bonds, Debentures and Shares: Rs. 30,591
- LIC or other insurance Policies: Rs. 50,08,930
- Personal loans/advance: Rs. 1,89,247
- Motor Vehicles: Rs. 46,55,490
- Other assets: Rs. 50,44,948
Immovable Assets
- Agricultural Land: Rs. 28,00,000
- Commercial Buildings: Rs. 30,00,000
- Residential Buildings: Rs. 8,87,50,000
Liabilities: Rs. 3,74,60,261
Facts/Trivia
- He remains very active on various social media platforms. On Instagram, he is followed by over 164k people. Over 401k people follow his Facebook page. He often posts pictures and videos of his political rallies and campaigns on social media.
- During his appointment as a Leader of the Opposition party, he constantly raised the state issues like The Cluster Development scheme for dilapidated illegal buildings in Thane and MMR, Thane Metro, a New Extended Thane Station between Thane and Mulund, Water Scarcity, coastal security of the state, Modernization of the Police Force, Inflation, increasing debt of the State, etc.
- Some of the major projects in the Thane district like Cluster Development and Thane Metro were authorised under the administration of Shinde. Shinde regularly stood for the rehabilitation policies for lakhs of residents who became homeless due to the illegal construction of buildings in Thane over the period of time.
- MSRDC was a Mumbai-Pune Expressway project, which was initiated in 1996 to encourage road development in the state. The first expressway of the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway, two flyovers in Mumbai, and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai were constructed under this scheme. However, soon after the Congress-NCP government came to power in 1999, this project lagged behind because of some political reasons. Later, when Shive Sena came into power in Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde was given the charge of the MSRDC department. In the next five years, under the administration of Shinde, many huge projects such as Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway (Samrudhhi Highway), Mumbai-Pune Express Highway Capacity Extension, Third Bridge on Thane Bay at Vashi, Bandra-Versova Sea Link, six-laning and concretization of roads, 27 railway fly pools in Vidarbha, the Thane-Borivli Subway, Versova-Virar Sea-Link, and Gaymukh-Fountain hotel-Ghodbundar advanced routes were achieved.
- When he was appointed as the Corporator of the Thane Municipal Corporation, Shinde adopted several measures including the authorised placing of metal beam crash barriers and wire rope barriers along the road, and in the centre, thermoplastic paint all over the highway and the Rambler etc to reduce road accidents on the Mumbai-Pune speeding route.