Shiv Sena slams Narayan Rane over allegations against party men

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on Wednesday strongly refuted allegations made by former chief minister Narayan Rane saying that there was no substance in them. Senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi said that it was not fair to criticise the party leaders and colleagues he worked together with for a long time and that it shows his level.

In his autobiography ‘No Holds Barred — My years in politics, Mr Rane has made sensational allegations claiming that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had threatened his father, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, that if he did not expel Mr Rane from the party, he would leave the house with wife Rashmi. He also targeted Manohar Joshi, calling him a ‘weak’ chief minister and the reason due to which the party couldn't deliver its promises in four years of government in 1995.

Commenting on this, Mr Joshi said, “Speaking against those, who helped you reach heights, is not good. It shows what kind of person you are.”

Making further claims in his autobiography, the leader from Konkan has alleged, without naming, that the second in command Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and minister had blocked his entry into the BJP. He alleged that soon after the Sena threatened to withdraw its support to the BJP government, the number two BJP leader and minister felt threatened by his probable entry into the party.

Mr Rane added that the second in command BJP leader felt that had he joined the state cabinet, he would have got cream portfolios, which would have rendered them powerless. The BJP leaders who till then were doing rounds of his residence suddenly stopped visiting him.

Mr Rane was expelled from the party in July 2005 after he publicly criticised Uddhav, raising questions on his leadership. He then joined the Congress and became the state revenue minister. Later on, he resigned from Congress after over a decade in September 2017 and launched his own party.

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