Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son and three-time MP Dr Shrikant Shinde was on Saturday elected as leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party (SSPS).
The 37-year-old orthopaedic surgeon-turned-politician, Dr Shinde was elected to the Lok Sabha for the third time from Kalyan.
At a meeting held in New Delhi which was attended by Shiv Sena’s seven newly-elected seven Lok Sabha MPs and its Rajya Sabha MP Milid Deora, Dr Shinde was elected unanimously as the SSPS leader.
Among the Shinde Sena MPs, Dr Shinde has had the maximum number of terms in Lok Sabha.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dr Shrikant Shinde trounced Vaishali Darekar-Rane of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).
In the 2014 and 2019 elections when he had contested from the undivided Shiv Sena, he had defeated Anand Paranjpe and Babaji Patil, both from undivided Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
Of the 15 seats it had contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won seats. The seven newly elected Shinde Sena MPs are: Ravindra Waikar (Mumbai North-West), Dr Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), Naresh Mhaske (Thane), Shrirang Barne (Maval), Dhairyashil Mane (Hatkanangkle), Sandipan Bhumre (Aurangabad) and Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana).
