Mumbai: Sulking Congress leader Narayan Rane met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday to tender his resignation from the cabinet. Industries Minister in the Chavan cabinet, had announced last week that he will quit as minister today but will remain in the Congress party. However, CM Chavan is yet to accept his resignation, reports said.
Rane will hold a press conference at 3 pm.
Rane, who had joined the Congress after he quit the Shiv Sena in 2005, had been at loggerheads with the state Congress leadership for a while now and has repeatedly criticized its style of functioning. The matter turned for the worse after his son Nilesh lost from Ratnagiri- Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat to Shiv Sena. Rane feels that Congress' alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) conspired to ensure his son's defeat.
With the Congress managing to win just two of the 27 seats it contested provided more ammunition to him against the party leadership. During the campaign, Rane had lamented that Congress had not utilised his services properly.
He had tendered his resignation from the Cabinet on the day results were declared but Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan turned it down.
Also, reports had claimed that Rane had expected to replace Chavan as the chief minister following the poll loss but the Congress high command decided against replacing the incumbent chief minister just months before the state goes to polls.
Though Rane has said that he will not quit the Congress, reports had earlier claimed that Rane is in touch with the BJP. After the untimely demise of Gopinath Munde, a mass leader form the backward community, the BJP is said to be on the lookout for a strong Maratha face in the state.
Rane seems to fit the bill but for the party but given Shiv Sena's strong opposition to any move to bring him in to the saffron camp, Rane joining the BJP seems a distant possibility.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had said in no uncertain terms that Rane is not welcome the 'Mahayuti' alliance led by the Senaa nd the BJP.
Thacekeray's strong words resulted in a strong retort by Rane who said Uddhav had no moral right to comment on his future political plans. "Shiv Sena is a leaderless party. A person like Uddhav who can't handle his own outfit should not comment on others. Those who fear my shadow should not criticize me," he had said.
Asked to comment on Rane's virulent attack against him, the Shiv Sena chief said, "I think he needs consolation."
Rane was inducted as minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government soon after he joined the Congress in 2005. Reports had suggested that Rane had joined the Congress on the understanding that he would be given a shot at the top job. However, the Congress had other ideas and made it clear that his entry into the party was without any preconditions.
Rane had served as chief minister for nine months while in Shiv Sena in 1999 when the NDA government was at helm in Maharashtra.
(zee)