Former Minister in Old Age Home

Sabir Shaikh, a close buddy of Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thakeray and twice minister under the Shiv Sena led Government in Maharashtra who was found in a distressful condition in a congested room of a Mumbai chawl, has been brought and accommodated in an old age home in Aurangabad. Shaikh was twice elected from Kalyan on Shiv Sena ticket in 1995 and 1999 and held the labour portfolio. A UNI report said the party cadres who found him in miserable conditions, brought him to Aurangabad and admitted him in a home for the Aged. He was the only Muslim who shared a stage with Thackeray every time he addressed the rally at Shivaji Park. It is often assumed that ministers earn enough to subsist on this wealth. But Sabir Shaikh is said to have earned and saved nothing for himself and considered the ministerial portfolio a means to serve the people. He was one among the founders of Shiv Sena and he was once made the chairman of the Maharashtra Haj Committee.