Union Minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane was on Tuesday arrested after sparking off a row over his remarks about slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he claimed was the latter?s ignorance of the year of India?s independence. Rane was taken into custody by police in coastal Ratnagiri district, where he is travelling as part of the Jan Ashirwad Yatra, an official said. Follow LIVE Updates
Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane was recently inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new Cabinet as minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, strengthening the BJP’s foothold in the Konkan region.
Born in April 1952, Rane started his political career while he was in his twenties. Before entering politics, Rane was a member of ‘Harya-Narya’ gang, a street gang operating in Mumbai’s northeastern suburb of Chembur in the 1960s.
Narayan Rane?s Entry Into Politics and Exit from Sena:
Rane?s initiation into politics took place as a member of the Shiv Sena when he became a local Shakha Pramukh at Chembur, Mumbai. Inducted into Sena by Balasaheb Thackeray, who was also his mentor, Rane became a corporator in Bombay, then chairman of Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) which then had a budget of over Rs 1,500 crore. His handling of finances and raising money for the fledgling Sena brought him closer to supremo Balasaheb Thackeray.
Appointed chief minister by Balasaheb Thackeray, when then CM Manohar Joshi was asked to step down from the post in 1998, Rane remained on the seat for eight months before the Sena-BJP lost in the subsequent elections. With the emergence of Uddhav Thackeray, Rane was sidelined which led to him heavily criticising the former?s working style. Falllen out of favour, Rane was expelled from the Shiv Sena in 2005 on account of anti-party activities.
Narayan Rane?s Stint With Congress
He later joined the Congress and was immediately made revenue minister of the state. Post the 2008 Mumbai attack, Vilasrao Deshmukh stepped down and Ashok Chavan was made chief minister. This agitated Rane, who claimed he was promised the CM post by the Congress high command. Rane protested against the party high command and launched a scathing attack on Sonia Gandhi, which led to his suspension. However, after he apologised, his suspension was revoked.
Rane contested the 2014 election from Konkan on Congress’s ticket, which he lost. Congress again gave him a ticket to contest the bypoll election for the legislative assembly seat of Bandra East constituency but Rane lost this election to the Shiv Sena candidate.
Cases Against Narayan Rane:
At the time Rane decided to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he was facing allegations of money laundering by BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who had accused Rane of diverting money from tax havens to a luxury project One Avighna Park in Central Mumbai. At the same time he was also a part of a state government probe into irregularities in denotification of industrial land in Nashik by the industries department.
Earlier, in 2002, former Congress legislator Padmakar Valvi had filed a case against Rane, who was then with the Shiv Sena and BJP’s Gopinath Munde, among others, alleging forcible abduction ahead of a trust vote against the then Congress-NCP government. The police filed a chargesheet against Rane and the other accused who were later granted bail.
Narayan Rane & Sons:
Rane?s sons Nilesh, a former Congress MP, and Nitesh, a Congress MLA, have also been embroiled in several controversies. In 2015, Swiss leaks listed Nilesh and Narayan Rane’s wife Neelam as account holders.
In 2016, Nilesh was accused of kidnapping and beating up a local Congress leader Sandeep Sawant for not attending a rally he had convened as part of the Maratha protests in the state.
In 2017, Rane’s younger son, Nitesh, was arrested for using force against a public servant and criminal intimidation, among other charges. Earlier that year, the Mumbai police registered a case against him based on the complaint of a restaurant owner in Mumbai’s Juhu for allegedly extorting money. The Goa Police had chargesheeted Nitesh in a 2013 case of allegedly vandalising a toll booth in North Goa.
In 2010, Nitesh was charged with attempt to murder after Shamim Shaikh, who was the vice-president of the transport wing of Nitesh’s Swabhimaan Sanghatana, alleged that latter had fired at him in the Swabhimaan office at Khar.
Narayan Rane in NDA:
Later, in 2017, Narayan Rane with his sons Nitesh and Nilesh floated his own party ‘Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha’, and openly announced that they will support the BJP in the state. In 2019, BJP gave a ticket to Rane’s son Nitesh from Konkan. Later, Narayan Rane got the Rajya Sabha seat from BJP’s quota.
Rane is known as a ‘Sena baiter’ and played an instrumental role in the preparation of the report on Maratha reservation. The issue has since picked up pace in the Maharashtra’s political circles. Rane’s elevation could also help the BJP’s chances in the BMC elections next year.
Apart from having a long drawn career in politics, Rane is also the owner and the consulting editor of Marathi language newspaper Prahaar.
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