BJP banks on ‘outsider’ Navneet Rana, hopeful of bagging Amravati Lok Sabha seat

Amravati Lok Sabha is a reserved constituency for the Scheduled Caste.

Rana filed her nomination form on Thursday as well in the presence of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Amravati. The central election committee had cleared her candidature a week ago. What was notable was Navneet Rana’s name had been announced even before her formal induction into the party, which took place last month. As a result, state leaders had to hurriedly complete the process of making her a BJP member.

State BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule was candid in stating independent sitting MP Navneet Rana and her husband, MLA from Badnera assembly seat in Amravati district Ravi Rana, had pledged support to the BJP after the 2019 Lok Sabha and state assembly polls respectively.

Those defending Navneet Rana’s candidature within the BJP argue that she and Ravi stood by the party in difficult times when Uddhav Thackeray betrayed it by joining hands with the Congress and NCP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government after the 2019 polls. Navneet’s public threat to recite the Hanuman chalisa outside Thackeray’s official residence Matoshree had earlier led to sedition charges against her. She was arrested and later released.

In 2019, Navneet Rana had contested as an independent candidate from Amravati Lok Sabha seat. She had defeated Anandrao Adsul. Rana was then being supported by the NCP. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the contest was between Adsul and Rana, where she was defeated by the former.

During his tenure as CM, Devendra Fadnavis had focused on a makeover for Amravati by pushing for infrastructure textile parks and promoting the agriculture sector.
He had pledged to make Amravati the country’s largest textile hub, complete with cotton processing to manufacture ready-made garments. Fadnavis had also given his ambitious project the theme Fabric to Fashion.

An actor-turned-politician, Navneet, 38, took everyone by surprise when she stumped the Shiv Sena candidate in the 2019 polls. During the last elections, Shiv Sena and the BJP were alliance partners and contested on the Modi factor. Despite strong resentment against her at local levels within the Congress-NCP as well as the BJP-Shiv Sena, Navneet Rana had emerged the winner as an independent candidate. Of Punjabi origin, Navneet Rana turned to politics after her marriage to Ravi Rana.

In the last elections Navneet had told the Indian Express, “I turned to politics as it gives me an opportunity to serve the people. I am especially concerned about the poor, children and women.”

After completing her schooling in Karthika High School in Kurla ( Mumbai), Navneet Rana turned to modeling. She the gradually made inroads into acting in Telugu, Kannada, Punjabi and Hindi films. Majority of her films are in Telugu. The list of her films run long — Darshan, Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi, Chetna, Bhuma, Kalachakra, Jagatpathi, Love in Singapore, Terror, Flash News, Lad Geya Pecha.

The BJP’s decision to field an outsider in Amravati has not gone uncontested. A section within the Amravati unit expressed its dismay over her candidature. Sanjay Khodke, who is with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, had even issued a statement requesting Navneet not to mention his name in her campaign.

To assuage the anger within its local unit, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar shared a dias where they addressed the gathering present during Navneet Rana’s nomination. It was aimed at conveying a clear message to its workers — to set aside differences and work as a team for Navneet Rana, who was the official BJP candidate.

A poll strategist in BJP, requesting anonymity, said, ” In the past, Shiv Sena always contested the seat as it was given to them in during the division of seats. So, the BJP had no option but to support and work for their candidate. Despite the BJP’s strong network and organisational base, the Shiv Sena had stake claim to the seat since 2014. This is the first time the BJP has got the seat. Party workers were hopeful of seeing an in-house candidate. Instead, the top leadership got outsider Navneet Rana. This is bound to upset them.”

However, insiders were quick to point out that in any elections, sentiments alone cannot work. The individual candidate’s winnability factor matters. The BJP poll managers believe Navneet Rana was a strong candidate who can win the party the Amravati seat.

Adsul, who is now with the Shinde Sena, was vying for the ticket and has threatened not to support Navneet Rana. “In the last ten years, we fought against the Rana couple on local issues. How, can we work with them?” Adsul said. Our rightful claim to the constituency has been handed over to her.

The Amravati Lok Sabha seat was primarily a Congress stronghold since the first general elections of 1952. It was represented by Dr Panbajrao Deshmukh a stalwart union minister in Pt Jawaharlal Nehru government from 1952 to 1962.

From 1965 to 1980 it was still with the Congress represented by Vimlabai Deshmukh (1965); Krishna Deshmukh (1967); Nanasaheb Bonde (1977); Usha Choudhari (1980). In 1989, Sudam Deshmukh gave the Community Party of India a break by winning the Amravati seat.

In 1991, former president of India Pratibha Patil represented the constituency.

The undivided Shiv Sena, which had spread to rural Maharashtra, for the first time bagged the seat with its candidate Anant Gudhe.
The Republican Party of India leader R S Gavai contested and won in 1998. In the next elections held in 1999, Shiv Sena’s Gudhe reclaimed the seat. In the 2009 and 2014 polls Shiv Sena leader Anand Adsul had the upper hand.