Devendra Fadnavis visit to Narayan Rane's house sets off rumours

Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s visit to Congress leader Narayan Rane’s house for Ganpati festival on Friday sparked speculation once again about the latter’s joining BJP. Last week, it was expected that Rane would join BJP in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah who would be in Mumbai on Sunday. But there was no confirmation from both the sides about the move.

Congress MLA Nitesh Rane, Narayan Rane’s son has tweed a photo of the CM, Narayan Rane and himself together. This has gained momentum about the reports that the duo would soon join BJP. The sources in the BJP said that Rane would be inducted into the party while the state Cabinet would have its expansion. The state Cabinet expansion depends on the expansion at the Centre, the sources said.

There were reports that Rane met BJP national president Amit Shah in Delhi expressing his wish to join the BJP. Rane is miffed with the Congress for sidelining him for a long time and devoiding him of any prime post. BJP is willing to take him so that the Congress leader would help the party against Shiv Sena in the next Lok Sabha polls 2019. BJP’s presence in Konkan region is in particular pockets and Rane can help to expand BJP’s base there.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis also visited Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide Milind Narvekar’s house for the Ganesh festival. This has also raised eyebrows in politics as the Sena and BJP recently had heated exchange over the Mira-Bhayandar poll that was won by the BJP. Shiv Sena blamed a Jain monk for making communal appeals to the voters to vote for BJP. BJP has criticised the Sena for making such allegations.