Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane’s decision to quit the Congress party on Thursday also meant giving up his dream of becoming the Chief Minister for another term.
With the option of joining the Shiv Sena already closed, Mr. Rane is now left with either joining the Bharatiya Janata Party or floating his own party. Mr. Rane is most likely to be reduced to a regional player and will desperately try to win back his home turf of Konkan.
In an attempt to prove his mettle, Mr Rane has already announced that he will be contesting the upcoming gram panchayat elections as an independent.
Mr. Rane also has the responsibility of ensuring the political safety of his two sons: one a sitting Congress MLA and the other, a former Congress MP. Nitesh has not resigned from the MLA post, and neither have his supporters. He has been on a quest to join the BJP for the past six months.
It was the BJP that had alleged when it was in the Opposition that Mr. Rane was involved in a number of criminal cases. However, the party is now in need of a face in the Konkan region to counter the Shiv Sena.
Sources say Mr. Rane might maintain an independent status and could switch sides just before the elections. Mr. Rane’s rise in State politics is attributed to Sena founder Bal Thackeray, who elevated him to the top post in 1999. A hardcore Sena leader with tremendous muscle power, Mr. Rane turned out to be an effective Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly after 1999.
His relations with the Sena soured after Uddhav Thackeray took over the reins of the party. He quit the Sena after openly expressing discontent with Bal Thackeray’s inner circle of leaders. “His statements while quitting the Sena were similar to the ones he made today. Then he did not criticise Balasaheb, today he kept quiet over Rahul Gandhi,” said a senior Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
In the Congress, first as Revenue Minister and later as in-charge of the Industries Department, his ambition to head the State was never a secret. In his journey from a rustic Shiv Sainik to mild Congressman, Mr. Rane never managed to convince the top leadership of the party to trust him with the CM’s post in one of the most developed States in India. He was always trounced to the post by party loyalists such as Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan.
