Rana challenges Uddhav to contest poll against her
Alleges she was tortured in Mumbai lock-up ‘just for using Lord Ram’s name’
After being discharged from hospital on Sunday, Independent MP Navneet Rana attacked Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray accusing him of misusing his power. She also challenged the Chief Minister to contest election against her. However, her outburst is likely to land her in trouble again as the Maharashtra government will approach the court to cancel the bail granted to the MP and her husband MLA Ravi Rana in a sedition case.
The Rana couple was arrested by the Mumbai Police on April 23, and charged with sedition, for their call to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, the Chief Minister’s private residence. While they were granted bail on May 4, the couple came out of jail a day later after which the MP was hospitalised for spondylitis treatment.
Navneet Rana alleged that she was harassed and tortured in the lockup and jail, just for using Lord Ram’s name.
“I challenge Uddhav Thackeray to contest elections from any constituency and I will contest against you. I will work hard with honesty and win the election and he (the CM) will know the people’s power. The people of the state will give him an answer for misusing his power and committing atrocities on me just for taking the name of Lord Ram,” she said while speaking to the media.
“I want to ask the Thackeray government what mistake I committed for which I was punished. I would like to ask if reciting Hanuman Chalisa is a crime, then I am ready to go to jail, not just for 14 days but for 14 years,” she added.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis visited Rana in the hospital on Saturday. A day after, he said that the MVA government has crossed all limits of cruelty. “The ill-treatment meted out to MLA Ravi Rana and his wife Navneet Rana was testimony to how low the Shiv Sena-led coalition has stooped to. They have crossed all limits in inflicting cruelty,” he said.
The Maharashtra government is likely to file a contempt plea against the Rana couple for speaking to the media about the case. The court had asked both the accused not to address the media regarding the same.
Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat said that Navneet Rana violated the conditions of her bail and he will file a petition in the sessions court on Monday.