Maharashtra polls: Ranes pull out all the stops to reclaim Sindhudurg

In Sindhudurg, the Rane family faces personal stakes in elections, battling rivals and dynastic politics as they vie for key assembly seats.

SINDHUDURG: There’s a sense of uneasy anticipation in coastal Sindhudurg, where the election is more than just politics. It’s deeply personal.

BJP leader Nilesh is among the two Ranes contesting from Sindhudurg (Facebook)

Although there are two Ranes contesting here, one each from two of the three assembly constituencies in the district, it’s almost as if there are three – the third being Rane Sr. Narayan Rane is not just batting for his sons; he’s gunning to reclaim his stranglehold over the district.

If his sons Nitesh and Nilesh do triumph, the Ranes would score three of four seats in the region – one Lok Sabha and two of three assembly seats – Rane Sr had wrested the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg parliamentary seat on a BJP ticket a few months ago, after losing it to Vinayak Raut of the undivided Sena in 2014.

This is also a contest between the two Senas. Rane’s son Nilesh is contesting from Kudal on a Shiv Sena ticket. He is up against an old Rane family rival, sitting MLA Vaibhav Naik of the Shiv Sena (UBT). In Sindhudurg’s Sawantwadi assembly seat, education minister Deepak Kesarkar of the Sena will confront Rajan Teli, the Sena (UBT) candidate. And in the third assembly constituency, Rane’s younger son, sitting BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, will face off against Sandesh Parkar of the Sena (UBT) in Kankavali.

Ranes vs Naiks: Family Foes

For the Ranes, this election is personal for another reason. The Rane and Naik families are old foes and, over the years, they’ve battled each other on and off the electoral stage. Vaibhav Naik, the Sena (UBT) candidate taking on Nilesh Rane in Kudal, is not only the sitting MLA in this constituency, he won a bitter battle against Rane Sr in the 2014 election, by a margin of over 10,000 votes. It is this defeat that Narayan Rane is hoping to avenge.

The enmity between the families goes back decades, to a time when a Narayan Rane was establishing his presence in Malvan as a young Shiv Sena leader under the patronage of party founder Bal Thackeray. He was accused in the murder of Vaibhav’s uncle Sudhir Naik in the ’90s, when the deceased was a Youth Congress worker in the region. Rane was acquitted but his alleged involvement in the murder became a major issue, with the then opposition accusing him of spreading terror among political opponents.

Nilesh Rane lacks the heft of his father but he’s giving this election all he’s got. Of his opponent, he remarked: “He (Vaibhav Naik) has done nothing other than target the Rane family. I have decided not to target or criticse him.”

Naik is unmoved. “The people here are against the dynastic rule of the Ranes. We are also taking up the issue of how the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed due to shoddy work. Sr Rane claims I have not done any worked in the constituency but that is untrue.”

In Kankavali, Nitesh Rane is seeking a third term as MLA. The Sena (UBT) has fielded Sandesh Parkar against him. Nitesh, who is known to make the occasional inflammatory remark, has organised Sakal Hindu Samaj morchas and for his pro-Hindutva rhetoric. He is also a close confidant of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The local unit of the Sena (UBT) and Sandesh Parkar claim the dynastic politics of the Ranes is a major issue here but Nitesh Rane said the Sena (UBT) should not point fingers because party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya is a political leader.

Kesarkar’s Battle

Meanwhile, education minister Deepak Kesarkar from Sawantwadi faces Rajan Teli of the Sena (UBT), a former Narayan Rane aide. He was once president of the Sawantwadi Municipal Council and later an NCP MLA. He switched to the Sena and later left the party with the Eknath Shinde faction. “People demand I must meet them, but I barely get time after I have become minister. But my work speaks for itself,’’ said Kesarkar.

He added that he was able to get a new industrial estate at Adali near Sawantwadi, which will create jobs but his opponent Teli feels that employment is still a major issue.

While Narayan Rane has done a lot to promote tourism in Sindhudurg ever since he became chief minister in 1999, employment continues to lag. Many residents from here migrate to Goa or Mumbai for work. Health infrastructure is also lacking and the nearest major hospital is the Goa Medical College. Another pressing issue is the incomplete Mumbai-Goa highway.