Narayan Rane says Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis invited him to join NDA

Mumbai: Senior Maharashtra politician Narayan Rane, who resigned from the Congress party about two weeks ago, said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has invited him to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Rane, who met Fadnavis at the chief minister’s residence ‘Varsha’ here, told PTI that he has sought two days to decide. Fadnavis could not be contacted for his comment. Rane quit the Congress late last month and floated a new party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksh. “In my meeting with the chief minister this evening, I was given an offer to become a part of the NDA. I have sought two days’ time to think about the proposal,” Rane said. He quit Congress, alleging that the party reneged its promise to make him Maharashtra’s chief minister when he joined it in 2005 after leaving the Shiv Sena. The Sena is a part of the NDA. A prominent leader from the influential Maratha community, Rane, hails from Sindhudurg district of the Konkan region. He became Maharashtra’s the chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999 when he was in the Shiv Sena.