More articles by

Dnyanesh Jathar
Dnyanesh Jathar

MAHARASHTRA

Also Rane

20-Shiv-Sena A raw deal: The Shiv Sena’s objection to the BJP allying with Narayan Rane has left him in limbo | Amey Mansabdar

BJP dumps former chief minister Narayan Rane to please the Shiv Sena

  • The Shiv Sena’s message served its purpose. The BJP state leadership told Rane not to contest the byelection this time. Rane spent nearly two hours with Fadnavis on November 25, but to no avail.

During his recent three-day tour of western Maharashtra, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the Devendra Fadnavis government. While addressing a farmers’ rally, he said the only two beneficiaries of the government are Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.

Just two days before this speech, Patil had gone to Matoshree (the Thackeray home) to discuss a range of political issues. As the discussion came to a close, he asked Thackeray whether it would suit him to travel to Kolhapur with Fadnavis as both of them were scheduled to go there. He politely declined, telling Patil that his schedule had already been finalised.

Thackeray, perhaps, has made up his mind not to spare the BJP the lashes. It was evident not just from his speeches during the tour but also in the way the Shiv Sena cornered the BJP when the issue of Narayan Rane’s byelection to the state legislative council came up. Former Sena man Rane, who quit the Congress in September to form his Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, had also resigned his membership in the legislative council.

He announced his support to the NDA in the hope that the BJP would support his candidature in the byelection that took place on December 7, and would subsequently make him a minister. But the Shiv Sena conveyed to the BJP in no uncertain terms that it will not tolerate any sort of understanding with Rane. “The Shiv Sena will walk out of the government the day Rane enters the cabinet,” said a Shiv Sena functionary who requested anonymity. “Uddhavji gave a strong message to the BJP. We are very clear. If the BJP wants to give importance to Rane, why should we share power? The relations will not improve just by travelling with the chief minister. The bigger problem is the BJP’s attitude.”

According to him, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party had offered to support the Shiv Sena if it wanted to break the coalition with the BJP. But Thackeray does not want any understanding with the Congress and the NCP. His aim is to have a Shiv Sena government that has complete majority.

The Shiv Sena’s message served its purpose. The BJP state leadership told Rane not to contest the byelection this time. Rane spent nearly two hours with Fadnavis on November 25, but to no avail. Had he contested, Rane would have required 145 votes to get elected to the legislative council. The BJP and independent legislators supporting it could guarantee up to 136. He would have needed 10 to 12 more votes—thus requiring cross-voting from the ranks of the Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP.

Rane, no doubt, is upset. But he has accepted the decision taken by the BJP leadership. He told a Marathi newspaper that he would have won had he contested, and claimed that many Congress and Shiv Sena legislators were in touch with him. With Rane out of the picture, the BJP managed to secure the Shiv Sena’s support for its candidate, Prasad Lad, an import from the NCP, who had an emphatic win (209 out of the total 288 votes).

When asked about Rane’s future, a cabinet minister told THE WEEK that Rane would have to wait for some time to enter the cabinet. He pointed out that BJP allies like Mahadeo Jankar and Sadabhau Khot had to wait for a year or so to become ministers. “Two months or six months, I don’t know how long it will take for Rane to enter the cabinet,” he said. “Rane will have to work to show the presence of his party like Raj Thackeray did. All our allies waited but they eventually became ministers when the media was writing they won’t.”

The political circuit is abuzz with talk that Fadnavis is in no hurry to get Rane into the cabinet as he doesn’t want to invite the Shiv Sena’s wrath. It is believed that it was for this reason that he was opposed to Rane’s entry into the BJP. But Danve said he would be inducted as minister when the cabinet expansion took place.

A Congress leader felt that had Fadnavis really wanted Rane in the cabinet, there was no need to wait for cabinet expansion. It seems like it is going to be a long wait for Rane, and the Shiv Sena seems to be bent on making it longer, perhaps, even endless.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.
The Week

Related Reading