After much delay, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday finally announced Union Minister Narayan Rane as the ruling Mahayuti coalition’s candidate for the contentious Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra’s Konkan region.
Mr. Rane’s name was announced in the BJP’s 13th list.
Of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, the tussle between ruling allies has been the fiercest over Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, with both the BJP, by way of the Rane clan, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena staking claim over the constituency.
Kiran Samant, brother of Shinde camp Minister Uday Samant, had been eagerly vying for a ticket and was believed to be on the verge of rebellion.
Mr. Kiran Samant had met with BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis earlier this week to discuss the issue.
However, speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Uday Samant said his brother had “taken a large-hearted decision” to step back and support Mr. Narayan Rane in a bid to ensure there were no rifts within the Mahayuti coalition.
“We were eager that Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg be given to us as the Shiv Sena has a strong presence in this region. I spoke last night with Devendra Fadnavis, CM Eknath Shinde, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on this issue and urged them to announce a candidate soon, whether he be of the Sena or the BJP, as the delay was causing tremendous confusion among the cadre on the ground,” Mr. Samant, who was flanked by his brother Kiran, said.
He further said that Mr. Kiran Samant would work sincerely to ensure Mr. Rane’s victory as the latter was a senior leader and a Union Minister.
“We will support him with all our strength. So, even if Mr. Rane is of the BJP, the Shiv Sena in the Konkan will campaign whole-heartedly for him,” Mr. Uday Samant said.
Both the Samant brothers are to accompany Mr. Rane when the latter files his nomination on April 19, the last date for filing nominations for seats that go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
The seat is currently held by Vinayak Raut who belongs to Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) faction.
Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg has been hotbed of internecine warfare between the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP for the last couple of months.
Last month, Shinde camp leader Ramdas Kadam stridently protested against the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat being given to Mr. Rane after the latter staked claimed to the seat.
Mr. Rane, a former Rajya Sabha MP, was not repeated this year for the Upper House.
Mr. Kadam had claimed that even when the BJP were in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, the former had openly voted against the Sena candidates in the Konkan region.
The Konkan coastal region had been a stronghold of the undivided Shiv Sena, with few pockets of influence wielded by the BJP in form of the Rane clan.
Mr. Rane, the once stalwart Shiv Sena strongman who later joined the Congress, had ruled his fiefdom of Kudal in Sindhudurg district which he held for six terms as MLA before he was trounced comprehensively by the Sena’s Vaibhav Naik in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly election.
Since then, his political fortunes within the Congress had waned. After leaving the Congress in 2017, his subsequent entry into the BJP was not exactly smooth either.
It was hoped that Mr. Rane’s adhesion to the BJP would help the saffron party expand in the Konkan where it is weak. However, the plans came a cropper in the 2019 Assembly election which saw Uddhav Thackeray’s undivided Shiv Sena effortlessly retain nine of the 14 Assembly segments in the three crucial districts of the Konkan region, with Mr. Rane failing to bring gains for the BJP.
Despite this, the BJP still sees the Rane clan as the potential challenger to Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena (UBT) in the Konkan, given the intense personal acrimony between Mr. Rane and Mr. Thackeray.
