In a significant move that sparked intense speculation in the State political circles about his plans ahead of the forthcoming Assembly polls scheduled for October this year, disgruntled Maharashtra Minister Narayan Rane on Thursday announced that he would resign from the Democratic Front (DF) Cabinet on Monday.
However, Rane — whose announcement to quit the State Cabinet comes on the heels of his unsuccessful efforts to prevail upon the Congress high command to remove Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan from his post — insisted that he had no plans to quit the Congress in the run-up to the State Assembly polls.
“I will put in my papers as a Minister on Monday. But, I have no plans to quit the Congress. I will remain active in the party,” the State Industries Minister said, while talking to the media after presiding over a meeting of State-run MIDC employees. At the meeting, he had indicated to the employees of his department that he would not be their minister from Monday onwards.
Rane, who has never hidden his ambition to occupy the Chief Minister’s office ever since he quit the Shiv Sena and joined the ruling Congress in July 2005, has in the recent weeks also not made any bones about his lack of inclination to continue in the Prithviraj Chavan Cabinet.
Rane, it may be recalled, had resigned from the State Cabinet in May this year, after his son Nilesh suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Shiv Sena nominee Vinayak Raut in the recent lok Sabha polls from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency. However, the Chief Minister had not accepted his resignation.
A former Chief Minister himself, Rane had – along with other Chavan’s detractors – been lobbying with the senior Congress leaders in New Delhi in recent months for the replacement of the current Chief Minister in his post, ahead of the State Assembly polls.However, the Congress high command made it clear last week that it had no plans to replace Chavan at this juncture and that he would lead the ruling party in the State Assembly polls.
Sources close to the disgruntled minister said that Rane, who was hoping against hope that the Congress might consider him as a replacement for the current chief minister, was upset with the Congress high command’s decision to continue Chavan in the post.
It is unlikely that Rane, whose political influence is limited to the coastal Konkan region, will quit the Congress and join any other political party at this juncture.Because, the Opposition Shiv Sena has not only slammed the door on Rane, but its president Uddhav Thackeray has also gone on record saying that he would prevail upon his party’s saffron alliance partner, BJP, not to take the disgruntled Congress minister into its fold. Similarly, the Raj Thackeray-led MNS does not seem in a mood to entertain Rane at this juncture.
Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Fadnavis clarified: “Rane has not approached us at all. And there is no proposal before us to take Rane into the BJP”.On his part, Rane announced that he would undertake a three-day tour of Konkan region, from Friday. He would travel by road to his home constituency of Kankavli in Sindhudurg district in the morning.
Apart from holding a meeting of his supporters at Kankavli, Rane also would also interact with his supporters in Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts during this three-day tour.