Congress, BJP leaders came in way of my cabinet re-entry, says Narayan Rane

The former chief minister made the claims in a tell-all memoir, No Holds Barred: My Years In Politics.

Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane claimed that his chance of becoming the chief minister again and re-entering the Maharashtra cabinet was thwarted by the Congress’s “false promise”, and “dodging” by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. Rane, who has hopped a few political parties between 2005 and 2018, made the claims in a tell-all memoir, No Holds Barred: My Years In Politics.

Narayan Rane has hopped a few political parties between 2005 and 2018 (HT file)

According to Rane, he was the frontrunner to become the chief minister after Vilasrao Deshmukh stepped down in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Rane, in a chapter titled False Promises, said he knew the party high command had no choice, but to nominate him as the chief minister, as he had the “experience and mass popularity”. He said but “Ashok Chavan’s name popped up out of nowhere”.

In his book, Rane claims he joined the Congress in 2005 after being promised that he would be made the chief minister in six months. After over three years of wait, he was still not in contention for the post.

In the book, Rane said when he called NCP chief Sharad Pawar to put in a word for him, as the next Maharashtra CM was being decided by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Pawar told Rane that the latter “was being taken for a ride, as the decision was already made”. “Your name is nowhere in the information I have in my hand,” Pawar said, according to the book.

In September 2017, when Rane was contemplating joining the BJP after the quitting Congress, “self-respect” got the better of him to form his own political outfit, as the “BJP was officially dodging him” owing to pressure from the Shiv Sena, the leader says in his book.

He claimed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had threatened to leave Matoshree with wife, if Sena supremo Bal Thackeray allowed Rane to come back to the party. “Either he stays or I do, he had said. He followed it up with an ultimatum,” an excerpt from the book said.

When contacted, Rane did not deny the claim he made in his autobiography and said, “I am in Goa right now. I will not speak on the topic over the phone.” Rane and Thackeray were known to be at loggerheads since the early 2000s. Rane, who was with the Sena till 2005, was marginalised by Thackeray and his loyalists.

A Sena spokesperson said Rane’s claims should not be taken seriously. “Nobody is going to trust Rane as he has been changing parties like people change clothes for his personal gain. He is not someone whose autobiography people will read. He does not deserve an autobiography and there is no point commenting on it,” said Manisha Kayande, Sena spokesperson.

Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “Comments can be made on what happens in public domain. What transpired between individuals and claims made by someone can’t be commented upon.” “The BJP does not want to comment on it,” said Keshav Upadhye, BJP spokesperson.