Rane wins round one against Sena
Narayan Rane said that they would now work on ousting the MVA from power in the state
MUMBAI: After winning a prestigious battle against the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the elections to the Sindhudurg district cooperative bank, union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane said that they would now work on ousting the MVA from power in the state.
“Now, we are not in power in the state. This has eluded us by a whisker. Maharashtra needs a good chief minister and a good government. Today, there is no chief minister. Hence, a developed state is heading towards anarchy,” charged Rane, while launching a broadside at his bete noire and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Rane’s younger son Nitesh, who is a BJP MLA from Kankavali, had been booked in an attempt to murder case after the assault on Santosh Parab, who was among those leading the charge of the MVA in the district bank polls. A local court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea on Thursday and Nitesh is still missing.
Nitesh had faced flak from the Shiv Sena after he had mimicked the sound of a cat when environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, who is Thackeray’s son, was entering the state legislature building during the recently concluded winter session.
Speaking to reporters on Friday at Kankavali in Sindhudurg district after the results were announced, Rane, who is the union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, attacked the state government and said that the law enforcement machinery and the police were used in an attempt to secure a victory.
Polling for the district central co-operative bank was held on Thursday, and on Friday, the BJP won 11 of the 19 seats. Shiv Sena leader Satish Sawant, who was the outgoing chairman of the bank, polled the same number of votes as his BJP rival Vitthal Desai. Desai was declared the victor after a draw of lots. The polls had an electoral college of 900, including voters representing co-operative bodies, urban credit groups, fishermen credit groups, and salaried employee credit groups, and also individuals.
Meanwhile, the Rane camp was also jolted after BJP district president Rajan Teli lost to Sushant Naik, the younger brother of Shiv Sena MLA from Kudal, Vaibhav Naik. In 2014, Vaibhav Naik had emerged as a giant killer by defeating Rane senior, who was then in the Congress and a minister in the Prithviraj Chavan cabinet.
Shiv Sena leader and former minister Deepak Kesarkar acknowledged their loss. “A victory is a victory, and a defeat is a defeat,” said Kesarkar, who is an MLA from Sawantwadi, adding that the BJP had marshalled its resources to influence voters.
Law enforcement machinery and the police were used by state in an attempt to secure victory. NARAYAN RANE, BJP leader