Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

BJP opts for Rane from Ratnagiri Sindhudurg

- HT Correspond­ent htmumbai@hindustant­imes.com

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced the candidatur­e of union minister for micro small and medium enterprise­s Narayan Rane from the RatnagiriS­indhudurg constituen­cy for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. With Rane contesting against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate and sitting MP Vinayak Raut, the stage is set for another electoral fight between Uddhav Thackeray and his bête noire.

“I thank prime minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, union home minister Amit Shah and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for giving me the candidatur­e,” Rane said after his name was announced by the BJP.

The Eknath Shinde camp had claimed the Ratnagiri-sindhudurg seat, with Kiran Samant, brother of industries minister Uday Samant, expressing interest in contesting. Despite several meetings with chief minister Eknath Shinde, the BJP ultimately decided to field Rane, although pre-election political surveys did not predict promising results for the party. Rane’s son Nilesh was elected from the constituen­cy on a Congress ticket in 2009 but lost to Raut in 2014 and 2019.

The decision has upset the Samant family, who hail from the Ratnagiri district. Following the announceme­nt, however, the industries minister declared that his brother was withdrawin­g from the fray and both of them would support Rane. “Local Shiv Sena unit will work to ensure Rane’s victory,” he said.

His opponent Vinayak Raut remarked that Rane’s candidatur­e had made his election easier. “I had earlier said I would get elected by a margin of 2.5 lakh votes. Now since Rane is in the fray, my margin will increase further,” he said.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has a strong base in the Konkan belt, with many of its prominent leaders and functionar­ies originatin­g from the Ratnagiri-sindhudurg area. Two of the six assembly segments in the constituen­cy are represente­d by Shiv Sena (UBT), two by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, one by the BJP and one by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

The Thackerays have already extensivel­y toured the Konkan region and declared their support for Raut, who began campaignin­g a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Rane has announced that he will file his nomination on April 19 at 11 am, saying the area will see further developmen­t once he becomes an MP.

Rane began his political career as a Shiv Sainik, working in the Income Tax department. He contested the BMC polls, becoming a corporator and later the chairman of the BEST committee. In 1991, he was elected as an MLA from Sindhudurg, and in 1995, he was appointed as the dairy developmen­t minister. He later became the revenue minister, and in 1999, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray appointed him chief minister.

After the Shiv Sena lost power, Rane was appointed leader of the opposition in the assembly. Following Uddhav Thackeray’s ascendancy in the party, he switched over to the Congress with a handful of MLAS. He had difference­s with the Congress leadership too after Ashok Chavan was made chief minister in 2008. He contested and lost the assembly polls in 2014 as well as the by-poll from Bandra East assembly constituen­cy a year later. In 2016, the Congress nominated him to the legislativ­e council.

Rane subsequent­ly quit the Congress, floated his own outfit called the Maharashtr­a Swabhiman Party, which was merged with the BJP when he joined the party in 2017.

In July 2021, he was inducted as a minister in the union cabinet as the BJP was keen to strengthen its presence in the Konkan region as well as position him as a prominent leader who could attack the Thackeray family regularly following the Shiv Sena breaking its alliance with the BJP in 2019.

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Narayan Rane

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