In the caste-ridden Indian politics there are very few persons who have managed to carve a niche for themselves despite being in the 'weaker' group. Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is one of them.
However, it is more an irony than an achievement that in the land of Jyotiba Phule and BR Ambedkar, Shinde is the first Dalit Chief Minister.
Shinde had been among the top contenders for the Maharashtra CM's post since the late 1980s. But every time he lost out because, as his supporters say, he does not belong to the dominant Maratha community, which constitutes more than 30 per cent of the state's population.
Born in a very poor family, Shinde had to study in a night school. He started as a ward boy in Wadia Hospital, Sholapur, then a peon in session court, before making it to the state CID as a sub inspector. Not one to be satisfied, he left the police on Sharad Pawar's call to join politics in 1971.
In 1974 he won an assembly by-poll from Karmala in Sholapur following which he was made a junior minister in the VP Naik government.
{{/usCountry}}In 1974 he won an assembly by-poll from Karmala in Sholapur following which he was made a junior minister in the VP Naik government.
{{/usCountry}}Shinde joined his mentor Sharad Pawar in 1978 when Pawar became the CM after splitting the then Congress (U). He remained with Pawar even when the government was dismissed in 1980, but could not stick with him for very long.
After returning to Congress he was appointed the finance minister in the Vasantrao Patil government, a job he held for the next nine years till 1989.
When Pawar himself rejoined the Congress in 1986, Shinde was among those who opposed the move. Barely five years later, Shinde and Deshmukh decided to revolt against Pawar, who had by then become chief minister, but were overtaken by events. In 1991, Rajiv Gandhi was killed, Pawar moved to the Centre as defence minister, and a year later, Shinde himself moved to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member.