Highlights:
- Narayan Rane has caused a controversy with his remarks about slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray during the Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
- Uddhav Thackeray, according to Narayan Rane, forgot the year of independence during his August 15 speech.
Union minister Narayan Rane has caused a controversy with his statements about slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he said was the latter’s ignorance of India’s independence year.
There is suspicion that Mr Rane may be arrested as a result of his remarks towards the chief minister. According to some sources, a Nashik police team has headed for Chiplun in the Konkan region, where Mr Rane is present now, after a complaint filed against the union minister over the statements. The police have yet to comment on these developments.
At Jan Ashirwad Yatra in the neighbouring Raigad region on Monday, Mr.Rane said, “It is shameful that the chief minister does not know the year of independence. He leaned back to enquire about the count of years of independence during his speech.” He continued, “Had I been there, I would have given (him) a tight slap.”
In his address to the people of the state on August 15, the BJP leader and former Shiv Sena chief minister said Mr. Thackeray had forgotten the year India gained independence. Mr Thackeray had to confirm the year of independence with his advisers halfway through the speech that day, according to Mr Rane.
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Mr Rane’s remarks drew strong condemnation from the Shiv Sena, whose members posted posters all over Mumbai and elsewhere calling him a “kombdi chor” (chicken stealer), a reference to the poultry business he owned in Chembur during his first term with the Bal Thackeray-led party five decades ago.
Mr Rane has lost his mental balance, according to Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
“Rane has been targeting Shiv Sena and its leaders in order to impress the BJP leadership. He lost his mental balance after being appointed into Modi’s government. Modi needs to show him the door “Mr. Raut said.
In the late 1960s, Mr Rane began his political career in Mumbai with the son-of-the-soil party founded by Bal Thackeray. He was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly as a Sena MLA in 1990.
He was sworn in as Maharashtra’s 13th chief minister in February 1999. That tenure was cut short when the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition lost the state Assembly elections later that year.
Mr Rane left the Shiv Sena in 2005 due to irreconcilable disputes with the Thackerays.
He joined the Congress after leaving Shiv Sena and was appointed state revenue minister. He resigned from Congress in 2017, claiming that he joined on the promise of being appointed to the state’s top position within six months.
He created the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, which he later amalgamated with the BJP, with his two sons Nilesh and Nitesh as key generals.
Mr Rane’s opponents have accused him of participation in many violent incidents, including the murder of a Sena worker and other crimes in Konkan’s Sindhudurg area, over the years.
