Rane’s dilemma: To be or not to be!
It's happening.., happening… But alas…! Not happened yet! That's the story of the most awaited and talked about entry of Congress political heavy-weight former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane in to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). For many months there have been gossips, reliable news and predictions about Rane leaving the Congress. At some point it was said that Rane would return to his earlier party, the Shiv Sena but Uddhav Thackeray publicly closed the doors for him. That compelled the rumormongers to start another mill, now his possible entry in to the ruling BJP. Dates after dates were announced and the last one was this Sunday, when the BJP National Executive met in Bhubaneshwar. However that has also failed through as by Sunday evening, when the Executive Conclave is about to conclude, there is no word about Rane's entry in to the party.
The question that now arises is, whether the BJP is really keen to accept Rane and if yes, what does it bring to table for the so called ‘King of Konkan’?
Rane is surely uncomfortable in the Congress ever since he relinquished his position of being 'Leader' in the Sena and joined the Congress in 2005. Since then he remained a 'senior minister' under four successive Congress Chief Ministers - Vilas Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan. However, never could he achieve that coveted position which according to him was assured by none else but Party President Sonia Gandhi. Since then Rane has been publicly sulking but in vain. The Congress high command was not willing to upgrade Rane nor were his party colleagues showing enthusiasm for his elevation. He was made the Chief of the Congress Campaign Committee in 2014 Assembly elections. However, the party failed miserably to come anywhere close to the BJP's mammoth seat tally of 123. The Congress was restricted to mere 46. Rane himself lost the election in his home constituency in the south Konkan. He made another frantic effort to return to the State Assembly when he contested the Kherwadi by-election just to fail miserably again. Earlier his son, Nilesh had lost Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat to the Sena.
Rane being a fighter by nature was not ready to throw towel in the ring. He continued to make attempts to recapture the place of honour and respect within the party. When Rahul Gandhi took the baton of the party (though unofficially) Rane made couple of trips to Delhi and expressed his desire to become the President of the Party State Unit. However, Rahul did not budge. Thus, Rane started making his displeasure and anger public. Picking up the hint, the media started spreading rumours about the possibility of him leaving the party. Rane did not deny them, rather encouraged the rumormongers by whispering about the fillers and hints he was getting from the BJP.
Last week, he went to Ahmedabad and called on the BJP President Amit Shah in a close-door meeting. This so-called secret effort became public within hours as TV cameras caught him travelling with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. His son Nitesh was seen on the front seat. Rane continued to deny the meeting though. It is not important whether he actually met Shah or not. The fact remains that he has been making frantic efforts and attempts to enter the ruling party, of course with his own conditions and terms.
As it has been reported, Rane wants him to be reinstated along with his two sons who are now active in politics. Rane wants to have an important portfolio like Home or Revenue in the state for himself or a ministerial berth in Delhi for which the BJP leadership is not very keen or enthusiastic. There are many reasons for that. If Rane has to enter the BJP, he will have to relinquish his seat in the State Legislative Council to avoid disqualification under the provisions of the Anti-Defection Act. In that case, he will either have to get reelected as BJP nominee in the Council or ask his son Nitesh to resign and vacate the seat for him. Both the tasks are not easy. In case, he has to get re-elected to the Legislative Council, the BJP does not have enough votes to return him on its own. Considering Sena's animosity with Rane, surely the Sena would put its weight behind the Congress and NCP combine to ensure his defeat. Even for Assembly by-election, the same pattern is likely to follow. Will the BJP take this risk for Rane?
That is not likely to happen in near future as the BJP is at present not interested in rubbing the Sena on wrong side. Moreover, Rane has not remained as strong as he has been perceived by the media. The recent results of elections show that Rane does not hold clout even in his own Sindhudurg District of Konkan. Considering that he could neither return himself nor get his son elected in Lok Sabha only prove that he is a 'spent force' now. Will the BJP put its money on the proposition that is not likely to yield any fruit at least in near future?
Moreover, apart from the party high command, even Maharashtra BJP is not very keen to welcome him. There are two distinct groups within the BJP. One is for his entry while the other led by Fadnavis are staunchly opposing his entry in the party. Fadnavis has proven his metal for being a vote-catcher and also an able administrator. Moreover he has a team of his close followers like Sudhir Mungantiwar, Chandrakant Patil and Girish Bapat, those also oppose any such move. On the other hand the Congress leaders like MPCC President Ashok Chavan and Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil are not willing to offer any olive branch to Rane to hold him back.
In this situation, Rane's BJP entry seems to be distant dream at least at the time of writing this article. Of course anything is possible in the game of politics, even Rane's entry in the BJP.