Narayan Rane blames Congress for Maharashtra bypoll defeat, says party plotted against him

After Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane was defeated in the Maharashtra bypoll from Bandra (East) by Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant by over 19,000 votes, he blamed his own party for the defeat. [caption id=“attachment_2200522” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Congress leader Narayan Rane blamed his own party for the Maharashtra bypoll defeat. PTI[/caption] An editorial in Rane’s mouthpiece Prahar said that not only had Congress shown no support for Rane during the bypoll but had also plotted against him. “They (Congress leaders) felt threatened by his victory in state Congress,” Indian Express quoted the editorial as saying. “Some leaders came for campaign, some didn’t even make their presence felt. Even those who came participated during the day. At night, they engaged in anti-Rane activities.” The editorial, with the headline ‘Rane won, Congress lost’, also said Rane had agreed to take on the Shiv Sena in the constituency which is the home turf of founder late Bal Thackeray, and where party chief Uddhav Thackeray now resides at ‘Matoshree’ because Congress had nobody else to counter the party there. The editorial stressed on the fact that Rane had got over 33,000 votes, while the previous poll tally for the Congress was 12,000 votes. Shiv Sena leader Trupti Sawant, whose husband Bala Sawant’s death had necessitated the bypoll, secured 52,711 votes, retaining the seat for Sena. Rane garnered only 33,703 votes, losing by a margin of 19,008 votes. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) candidate Rehbar Khan was a distant third with 15,050 votes. This is the second defeat within six months for Rane, who lost last year’s Assembly polls from his home turf Kankavali in coastal Konkan region. Shiv Sena workers celebrated the defeat of the Congress heavyweight outside his residence and ‘Matoshree’ by bursting crackers, waving saffron flags and shouting party slogans. Shiv Sena on Friday also alleged that after being expelled from the Shiv Sena and joining the Congress in 2005, Rane was going to join hands with Raj Thackeray but backtracked later. “Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray both left Shiv Sena together in 2005. Not many people know that at that time, both of them were seriously considering and had almost formed a new political party. But eventually Rane ditched Raj as well,” Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut told reporters in Mumbai. “Rane has never been loyal to anybody. First, he quit the Sena when he realised that he had no chance of becoming the Chief Minister again. Then, when Ashok Chavan replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh in 2008, he openly spoke against Congress’ central leadership. He had tendered resignation from Congress in 2010 when Prithviraj Chavan became the CM,” Raut said. (With inputs from PTI)