Rane hits back: ‘Uddhav hurt his father the most’

Rane’s outburst against Uddhav comes in the wake of mounting pressure from the Shiv Sena on the ally BJP not to entertain him. Sena’s consolidation in Sindhurdurg and Ratnagiri, which is Rane’s turf, is also cited as a reason for his renewed attack on Uddhav.

“Sena will not take any body who has troubled Bal Thackeray. The BJP should also not touch such leaders,” Uddhav had said earlier.

Rane, who has left on a three-day tour of Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, said, “Uddhav should keep his mouth shut. Otherwise, I will expose all his misdeeds in Matoshree.”

“A real man (mard manoos) has vacancy everywhere. It is up to him to decide his path,” Rane said.

The minister said he was resigning since he had some problems with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. He, however, indicated he was not going to form his own party.

Sources in the Congress said attempts to persuade Rane not to resign were being made for the last two days. “However, it appears he is keeping his political options open outside Sena and Congress to retain his hold in Konkan,” they said.

Rane’s eldest son Nilesh lost his Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year to Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut.