Sharad Pawar visits Narayan Rane's home
Mr Rane's family, including Congress MLA Nitesh Rane, was also present.
Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met senior leader and member of Parliament Narayan Rane at the latter’s residence in Kankavali, Sindhu-durg. Mr Pawar is on a two-day visit of Sindhudurg, where he met Mr Rane over lunch. Although both sides are claiming that the meeting was non-political, there is buzz about Mr Rane joining hands with the opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Mr Rane’s family, including Congress MLA Nitesh Rane, was also present.
Mr Rane left the Congress a year ago and formed his own party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha. He was eyeing a cabinet ministry in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led state government. But another partner and Mr Rane’s former party, Shiv Sena, opposed his induction. Finally, Mr Rane was given a Rajya Sabha seat from the BJP quota.
It was assumed that the Sena and BJP would contest Lok Sabha polls independently, given the former’s strong anti-BJP stand. In recent times however, the patch-up between the ruling allies is in the works. In the event BJP and Sena had contested independently, Mr Rane was looking to contest the LS elections, which is not possible if the two parties form an alliance.
On the other hand, the Congress and NCP do not have a strong candidate to field in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency So, Mr Pawar is trying to bring Mr Rane into his camp ahead of the general election. The Monday meeting is being perceived as part of this strategy.