Amid intense speculation that he might join the ruling BJP, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane left for New Delhi on Friday, on being summoned by his party high command that is making a last-ditch effort to retain him in the party.
Informed sources said that Rane, who has for the past few weeks lobbying with senior BJP to gain an entry into the Amit Shah-led party, would meet senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
According to sources, Patel has reportedly been assigned the task of dissuading Rane from quitting the Congress.
Speculation about Rane joining the BJP had gained currency last month, 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 in the, 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 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.
Having failed in effort to land the State Congress chief’s post despite intense lobbying, Rane has for some time weighing the option of switching to the BJP. The BJP leaders, including Fadnavis and State party chief Raosaheb Danve-Patil, have actively been entertaining Rane’s overtures for several weeks now.
Meanwhile, senior Shiv Sena leader and State Minister Subhash Desai contested the speculation in the media that his party would walk out of the Devendra Fadnavis government in the event of Rane joining the BJP.
Talking to media persons at Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, Desai said on Friday that the Sena would not walk out of the Fadnavis government irrespective of whether Rane joined the BJP or not. “There is absolutely no truth in the speculation that the Sena will withdraw its support to the state government if Rane joined the BJP. It does not matter much for us if Rane joins the BJP or any other party,” Desai said.