The ruling Shiv Sena cranked up the pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the crucial Mumbai civic body election after a team of civic officials on Monday inspected a bungalow owned by Union Minister and senior BJP leader Narayan Rane for alleged violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms.
Mr. Rane, a former Shiv Sainik now turned the Sena’s bete noire and Sena president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s bitter adversary, had been slapped an inspection notice by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities last week.
The Shiv Sena controls the cash-rich BMC with the civic body considered to be the party’s power base in Maharashtra.
The BMC authorities were acting on a reminder complaint filed by a Mumbai-based Right to Information (RTI) activist who alleges that the Union Minister’s bungalow named ‘Adhish’ had been illicitly constructed within 50 metres of the sea in violation of the CRZ rules.
Security was beefed up as the BMC authorities along with police personnel conducted a thorough two-hour inspection, replete with photographs, measurements and document checks, in Mr. Rane’s presence.
Escalating verbal duels
The crackdown on the Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) assumes significance in the escalating verbal duels between the Sena and the BJP in the face of the BMC poll expected to be held next month or in April.
The BJP leader, who has been involved in a running feud with the Sena, responded by alleging irregularities in one of the bungalows owned by the Thackeray family.
The relations between Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Rane, acrimonious at the best of times, hit a new low in August last after the latter imprudently remarked that he would have given the Chief Minister “a tight slap” for allegedly forgetting the number of years of India’s Independence during the Chief Minister’s August 15 speech.
Mr. Rane’s remarks had triggered immediate ‘reprisals’ by Sena activists, who pelted stones at the BJP party offices in Nashik, Pune and Mumbai and clashed with BJP workers in Mumbai city and elsewhere in Maharashtra.
No less than five FIRs had been promptly lodged against Mr. Rane in different parts of the State and the Nashik Police Commissioner had issued a warrant for the Minister’s arrest.
Mr. Rane was taken into police custody and hauled before a local court in Raigad district which finally granted him bail after a high–voltage late–night drama.
Since then, the Sena has made it clear to the Rane clan (including Mr. Rane’s sons Nitesh and Nilesh Rane) that they could no longer get away by criticising Mr. Thackeray or the Shiv Sena.
The Sena, which is fighting a critical battle to re–assert its supremacy over the BMC, has taken an aggressive stance against the BJP — particularly against its more vocal opponents like Mr. Rane and Kirit Somaiya.
Lashing out against the inspection of Mr. Rane’s bungalow, BJP State president Chandrakant Patil said the Uddhav Thackeray–led Maha Vikas Aghadi government (of the Sena, the NCP and the Congress) was “misusing its power”.
“The allegations against Mr. Rane’s bungalow will not stick in court. The BJP stands firmly behind him. Mr. Rane has always been a fighter,” said Mr. Patil.
Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis said the inspection smacked of the MVA government’s “politics of malice”.
