It is a case of seventh time lucky for Sushilkumar Shinde, who will soon take over from Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chief minister of Maharashtra.

Fortune finally smiled on the dalit leader whose name had figured half a dozen times during the past two decades among the contenders for the top post.

He had become so wary of the 'last minute jinx' that early this week he was reluctant to accept the congratulations of reporters following reports that he had emerged as the frontrunner in the race for a successor to Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Shinde's name had figured in the chief ministerial stakes for the first time in 1983-84 in the wake of Babasaheb Bhosale's exit and the last time in 1999, when Vilasrao Deshmukh piped him to the post.

In August 2002, Shinde was made the Congress' vice-presidential nominee. Despite knowing that it was a losing proposition, party president Sonia Gandhi made it clear that Shinde's candidature was to be taken seriously and strived to make him the combined opposition nominee against the NDA's Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Slide Show: Seventh time lucky...
More reports from Maharashtra