Ex-Congress leader Narayan Rane meets Amit Shah amid speculations on induction in BJP

Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, who has quit the Congress, met BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi on Monday. However, The Indian Express reported that there was no indication about Rane’s much-speculated entry into the ruling party. Apparently, the BJP central leadership is not too keen on inducting Rane at the moment. The report also cited a senior leader present at the meeting as saying, “The meeting lasted eight to nine minutes. There was no discussion on politics.” Rane quit the Congress earlier this week amid speculation that he was keen on joining the BJP. Rane met several Maharashtra BJP leaders, including state BJP chief Raosaheb Patil Danve, earlier in the day before meeting Shah, sources said. [caption id=“attachment_3356944” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Narayan Rane. Image courtesy: CNN-News18[/caption] “Rane met Shah this evening. There was no political discussion during the meeting,” state BJP sources said. Rane had gone to Delhi to invite Shah for inauguration of a hospital at Padwe in Kudal in Sindhudurg district, a source close to the Maratha leader said. Maharashtra revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, when asked recently about the possibility of Rane joining the saffron party, had said that a decision in this regard would be taken by Shah, as Rane is a senior leader and a former chief minister. Announcing his decision to quit the Congress in his home turf of Sindhudurg district in the coastal Maharashtra, Rane had accused the Congress of reneging on the promise of making him the state’s chief minister when he joined the party 12 years ago after leaving the Shiv Sena. He was the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999 while in the Shiv Sena. “I have not yet decided where to go,” he said while announcing his exit from the Congress, adding that he would make an announcement before Dussehra, which falls on 30 September. The former firebrand Sena leader had joined the Congress in 2005. Speculation about Rane joining the BJP was triggered by reports suggesting that he had met Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the recent Ganesh festival, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had visited Rane’s residence. With inputs from PTI