Eknath Shinde can forget about going back to farming in Satara, for now. For that's the vow he had taken if he were to fail in getting the 40 MLAs re-elected when they walked out with him to topple Uddhav Thackeray as CM in June 2022.
Not only has he kept his promise to his legislators, but has, once and for all, slayed the question of who is the successor to Balasaheb's legacy.
Even as BJP emerged as single largest party, more than double of Sena's numbers, Shinde will claim that he has as good a claim on the CM's post as a BJP nominee because it was his idea of Ladki Bahin scheme (to provide Rs 1,500 stipend every month to women aged 21 to 65) that's widely perceived to be the game changer. Post Lok Sabha election setback, this scheme - that helped millions of women in rural Maharashtra gain agency over their lives - is widely credited for Saturday's saffron tsunami.
These are, indeed, heady times for the humble Shiv Sainik from Thane who started out as an auto driver. Groomed as a Sena neta by Sena'sThane boss Anand Dighe, Shinde took over the mantle of leadership in Thane from Dighe after the latter's death in 2001. His rise was steady as he won four successive terms in the House from 2004, becoming PWD minister in MVA govt. But it was the coup he carried out by walking away with a majority of Sena MLAs in a revolt against Uddhav's leadership in 2022 - that too when Uddhav was CM - that marked him out as the most formidable Sainik rebel to date.
Shinde has described his rebellion against Uddhav as his attempt to save Bal Thackeray's Sena and his legacy in the face of his son's apparent abandonment of Sena's Hindutva ideology. With Saturday's blockbuster showing, nobody is questioning his motivations or actions any more.