Union Minister Narayan Rane faces arrest over 'slap Uddhav' comment

Union Minister Narayan Rane is facing arrest over purported remarks by him about slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he claimed was the latter’s ignorance of the year of India’s independence. Narayan Rane is minister of micro, small and medium enterprises.

Cases have been registered against Narayan Rane in Nashik and Pune. ANI reported on Tuesday that the Nashik Cyber Police had registered an FIR against Narayan Rane over a complaint by a local Shiv Sena functionary. ANI reported the police commissioner had issued an order to arrest Narayan Rane and formed a team led by DCP Sanjay Barkund to arrest him.

An FIR was lodged in Pune against Narayan Rane over the same issue following a complaint by the Yuva Sena, the Shiv Sena's youth wing.

Responding to the news of the cases against him, Narayan Rane, reportedly, said on Tuesday, "I have not committed any offence. I have no information against any offence registered against me." Narayan Rane was speaking in Chiplun in Ratnagiri district, where he is participating in the BJP’s Jan Ashirvad Yatra. Narayan Rane defended his comments. He was quoted by ANI as saying “I've no info that an FIR has been registered against me. I am not a common man. I have not committed any crime. Is it not a crime if someone doesn't know about 15th August? I had said that I would have slapped—these were the words and it's not a crime.”

A team from the Pune city police has left for Chiplun for investigation into the FIR.

Narayan Rane's son, Nitesh Rane, a BJP MLA, warned on Twitter that the BJP "shall be waiting" if the Yuva Sena gathered outside the family's home in Mumbai. Nitesh tweeted, "Hearing the news of Yuva Sena members been told to gather outside our Juhu house.. either Mumbai police stops them from coming there or whatever happens there will be not our responsibility!! Don’t dare to walk into the lions den ! We shall be waiting!"

Speaking during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra in Raigad on Monday, Narayan had said, “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech. Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap.”

Narayan Rane’s remarks drew sharp reactions from Shiv Sena, whose workers put several posters in Mumbai and other places, calling him a kombdi chor (chicken stealer), a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur five decades ago, during his initial stint with the Bal Thackeray-led party.

Shiv Sena’s Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut said Narayan Rane has lost his mental balance.

“To impress BJP leadership, Rane has been attacking Shiv Sena and its leaders. He lost his mental balance after his induction into the Modi-led ministry. [PM Narendra] Modi should show him the door,” Raut said.

Narayan Rane flagged off his political life in Mumbai with the son-of-the-soil party led by Bal Thackeray in the late 1960s. He entered the Maharashtra Assembly in 1990 as a Sena MLA.

In February 1999, he was sworn in as Maharashtra's 13th chief minister. That stint was short as the then Shiv Sena-BJP combine lost the state Assembly elections held later that year.

In 2005, Narayan Rane parted ways with the Shiv Sena following irreconcilable differences with the Thackerays. After quitting the Sena, he joined the Congress and was made state revenue minister. He quit the Congress in 2017, saying he had joined it on assurance of being put in the state’s top position in six months.

He founded the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha with his two sons, Nilesh and Nitesh, as his key generals but later merged it with the BJP.

Over the years, Narayan Rane’s rivals have linked him to several incidents of violence, claiming his involvement in the murder of a Sena worker and some other crimes in Konkan's Sindhudurg district.