Congress leader Narayan Rane to join BJP before Dussehra?

“I will end whatever has been initiated by the Congress. I will do it during Navratri itself,” Rane said.

Following state Congress chief Ashok Chavan’s move to dissolve the district committee of Sindhudurg, senior Congress leader Narayan Rane on Sunday indicated a big move before Dussera, triggering speculations of him joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress leader Narayan Rane (HT File)

Rane also lambasted Chavan for allegedly hatching a conspiracy against him.

“I will end whatever has been initiated by the Congress. I will do it during Navratri itself,” Rane said, reacting to the dissolving of the Sindhudurg district Congress committee.

On Saturday, the Congress party dissolved its district committee.

It replaced Rane’s close confidante Datta Samant with Vikas Sawant as new district president. Rane said he will visit the district on Monday and will decide his future course of action after consulting his supporters.

Sources close to him said Rane is organising a huge rally as a show of strength in the district on Monday.

For more than five months, speculations have been rife that the former chief minister is leaving Congress after his demand for appointing him as Maharashtra Congress president was not fulfilled by the party high-command.

The talks over Rane defecting to the BJP gained momentum following media reports he met BJP chief Amit Shah and CM Devendra Fadnavis in Ahmedabad in April this year.

Rane had admitted getting an offer from the BJP sometimes back but denied any such meeting.

Slamming the state Congress chief, Rane said he (Chavan) is alone enough to wipe out Congress from Maharashtra. “Since my inception in the Congress in 2005, Chavan and Mohan Prakash, in-charge general secretary, has been working against me. Now they want me out of the party. It’s an old problem of the party that works against its own leader of the masses,” Rane said in an interview to a Marathi news channel.