Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane resigns from party

The former firebrand leader of the Shiv Sena joined the Congress on July 26, 2005, and was the next day made revenue minister in the then Congress-led government in the state. “(Congress leader) Ahmed Patel had told me after I joined the party that I would be made the chief minister,” Rane said. “Even Madam (Sonia Gandhi) had told me twice that I would be made the chief minister,” he added.

Referring to the speculation about his joining the BJP, Rane said: “I have not yet decided where to go.”

Rane, isolated in the party, had attacked the state Congress unit at a recent rally in his bastion of Sindhudurg alleging that his arch-rival Ashok Chavan had taken a ‘supari to finish the Congress’ in the state.

At the rally, he said that he had spoken to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about how he felt that Chavan was ‘hurting the party’s interests in the state’. However, the party leadership did nothing to assuage his concerns and continued to promote him.

“No Congress leader ever cared to know the reason for my discomfort,” he said.

Rane was a member of the Shiv Sena until 2005 when he switched sides to the Congress. He had become the chief minister of the state for a period of nine months in 1999 after Manohar Joshi stepped down. He also held the revenue portfolio in the Sena-BJP government. He had publicly criticised Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray questioning his administrative capacity.

After he joined the Congress, Rane was given the revenue and industry portfolios in successive governments led by the party. Rane’s two sons – Nilesh and Nitesh- are also active in politics. While Nilesh is a former Congress MP, Nitesh is a sitting party MLA.

Rane said Nilesh Rane, his son and former Congress MP, had also resigned from the party. His other son Nitesh, a Congress MLA, had not quit yet, Rane said. “But he will quit later, along with many Congress and Shiv Sena legislators,” he added.

Mounting an attack on Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan, Rane said he did not have “any qualification” to hold that post.”After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, when the Congress was considering a replacement for Vilasrao Deshmukh, 48 legislators backed me and only 32 supported Chavan but I was overlooked and he was made the chief minister,” Rane said. He added that while Rahul Gandhi had made him an MLC, Chavan was “camping in Delhi to ensure I didn’t become one”.