Amid continued speculation that he might soon join the BJP, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader and Narayan Rane said on Monday that he would make a formal announcement about his political future on September 21, the day of the start of the Navratri festivities.
Addressing his supporters at a rally held at Kudal in Sindhudurg district in coastal Konkan region, Rane said, “I am not going to say everything today. I will give breaking news in phases. On September 21, I will announce my decision at a Press conference in Kudal”.
Rane’s statement came after the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) dissolved the district Congress committee in his home district of Sindhudurg. “I do not know the reason behind the dissolution of the Sindhudurg district Congress committee. No leader dared to speak to me. I am also a Congress leader. It is surprising that without serving notice to any one, the district Congress committee has been dissolved”
“The State Congress leadership does not know the stuff that Narayan Rane is made of. That’s why it has taken this kind of a decision (of dissolving the district Congress committee). If someone tries to provoke me, my strength doubles. Many people have tried to provoke me in the past. I am where I was. But those who provoked me are nowhere to be seen now,” Rane said.
Hitting out at former Chief Minister and current MPCC president Ashok Chavan, Rane said, “Chavan is out to finish the Congress in the State. He does not deserve the post he holds. I have expressed my views about Chavan to Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi”.
Speculation about 65-year-old Rane quitting the Congress to join the BJP had gained currency in April this year, after he was seen travelling in a car in Ahmedabad with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who had gone to meet his party president Amit Shah in the Gujarat capital.
After reports emanated from Ahmedabad that he had met Shah along with Fadnavis, Rane had denied the reports and said that he had received an offer to join the BJP during the 2014 Assembly elections, but he had neither said “yes” or “no” to the offer.
Rane’s reported meeting with Shah had come after he had met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi some time during the first week of April.
When his attention was drawn to his recent meeting with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Rane had said: “We had a 30-minute meeting...but the issues not been resolved”.
Rane — who has been upset with the Congress leadership since 2010 when he was overlooked and Prithviraj Chavan was made as a Chief Minister in place of the Adarsh scam-tainted Ashok Chavan — has of late made no bones about his unhappiness over certain things in the Congress. “There is no proposal or discussion to quit the Congress as yet. When I take such a decision, I will speak out...I would say it openly.... that I have never hidden the fact that I am unhappy,” he had said.
Earlier, there was intense speculation that Rane might join the BJP on August 27. However, the speculation proved to be incorrect.