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How did the Shiv Sena rebellion change Maharashtra’s government in 2022?

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Maharashtra Ajanta Caves in north-central Maharashtra state, India.

In 2022, a significant political rebellion within the Shiv Sena fundamentally altered the government of Maharashtra.12

The change occurred when Shiv Sena member Eknath Shinde led 39 other party legislators in a revolt against the party’s leader, Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde’s faction objected to the Shiv Sena’s alliance with center-left parties—the Nationalist Congress Party and the Indian National Congress—within the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, arguing that the party had moved away from its conservative, right-wing Hindu nationalist roots.1

This defection stripped the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of its majority, forcing Uddhav Thackeray to resign as chief minister. Consequently, Eknath Shinde was able to take office as the new chief minister with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party, effectively shifting the state’s governance to a new coalition aligned with the National Democratic Alliance.132