Rane to launch news channel to counter Sena

MUMBAI: In what may intensify the ongoing war of words between the Shiv Sena and its favourite bugbear, Union minister Narayan Rane is planning to launch a Marathi news channel before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections due early next year.

“Preliminary preparations have begun. Things are yet to be finalised. We will try and launch it before the BMC elections,” said Rane’s younger son Nitesh, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Kankavali in Sindhudurg district. On being asked about the name, editorial leadership and other details, Nitesh said “The branding is yet to be decided.”

In 2008, Rane had launched a newspaper — Prahar (Blow) — to put forth his point of view, and take on Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana. Prahar has editions in Mumbai, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Rane’s aides said the decision is spurred by the unceasing attacks made by the Shiv Sena on the Ranes through their mouthpiece Saamana. The channel, about which Rane senior has referred to in an interview to the electronic media, will also serve as a propaganda vehicle for the BJP and Rane in the battle for the cash-rich BMC, which is one of the richest civic bodies in Asia.

One of the reasons for Rane’s induction in the BJP and later into the Narendra Modi-led cabinet was the need for an aggressive face to take on the Shiv Sena, especially in the Mumbai civic body elections. As a former Shiv Sainik and ex-chief minister of the state who began his electoral career as a corporator in the Mumbai civic body, Rane knows several chinks in the armour of his former party.

When contacted, Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said this channel could be “one more platform to attack CM Uddhav Thackeray and the Sena.”

Incidentally, the Sena, to which Rane originally belonged to, has its genesis in a cartoon weekly Marmik that was launched by cartoonists Bal Thackeray and his younger brother Shrikant on August 13, 1960.

Thackeray also launched the Marathi newspaper Saamana in 1989 and the Hindi tabloid Dopahar Ka Saamana in 1993. The party’s line is spelt out in Saamana, which has Sena hawk and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut as the executive editor and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi as the chief editor. Uddhav held the position of editor till he became the chief minister in November 2019.