Mumbai: Quite eager to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Narayan Rane, who rushed to Delhi on Monday, to meet the national president Amit Shah found himself getting a cold shoulder. The BJP seems to be in no hurry to induct this former chief minister who quit the Congress last week. The chances of inducting him immediately into the state cabinet too are slim at this moment.
Rane, who went to meet Shah said it was a ‘personal’ visit to invite him for the inauguration of a hospital he has built in Kudal. The obvious agenda of this meeting however is his urgency to join BJP.
A BJP insider claimed that Shah through his own machinery and network has probed Rane’s strength and mass base. “A polite way of saying how much of a nuisance value Rane can be in Konkan against the Congress and Shiv Sena,” said the insider. BJP wants to use Rane to politically finish the base of Congress and Sena from Konkan primarily and also in other parts of the state.
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Interestingly, when Rane left the Sena in July 2005, he had 12 loyalists who risked their political careers for Rane, bestowing their faith in him. However, in politics one has heard, “There are no permanent friends or enemies” and this time when Rane quit Congress, he has no one by his side.
After 12 years of being in Congress party that has enjoyed power and now despite in the opposition, not a single elected or former elected representative who were with Rane since his Sena days are with him today. Rane, noting these changes has also not laid down all his cards. He has not asked his son Nitesh, who is known to be notorious to resign. The BJP insider said that “Our bosses are not keen on inducting his sons.” Many of his loyalists say Rane has failed to rehabilitate Shankar Kambli, Subhash Bane and Ganpat Kadam all of whom were legislators when they resigned from the post and Sena party with Rane.
“The Maratha strongman has lost his power and strength in his own bastion in Konkan. The state BJP leadership has appraised the national leadership of his original political clout to let him of know of his capabilities. Shah is the final authority who will decide on the next step,” said the BJP insider. He added that once Rane does join BJP, the party workers at the ground level would have to work with him, even if they do not agree to follow him. Meanwhile, a senior BJP minister said that Rane may not be inducted in state cabinet immediately, at least not before Diwali.
