After Mumbai bypoll loss, Narayan Rane may lie low for a year, say Congress leaders

Mumbai: The defeat of former chief minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane in Bandra (East) bypoll has made his political future uncertain. He will have to lie low for at least year as he will be at the mercy of the party now, said political observers. “Rane was going to lose. He has a tendency to gamble politically and had done many times earlier. But, the people have once again rejected the money power and muscle power. Now, with limited political capital and options, he will get marginalised,” Prakash Bal, a political analyst, said. [caption id=“attachment_2199300” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Ibnlive image[/caption] Shiv Sena’s Trupti Sawant defeated Rane by over 19,000 votes thereby making it his second defeat in the state over the last six months. Rane had contested the 2014 assembly elections from Kudal constituency in Sindhudurg district, his home turf, but was defeated by Sena’s Vaibhav Naik by a margin of 9,000 votes. In the bypoll, the Sena’s victory margin has increased from around 15,000 votes in October to around 19,000. The Congress has also improved its performance. In October, the party had polled just 12,000 votes and had ended in fourth position. But this time, it has polled 33,703 votes. The bypoll had become prestigious for Rane as it was a battle for survival and also because of because of the Thackeray’s residence, Matoshree, falls in the constituency. Rane’s victory could have marked the Congress’ revival in the state following the drubbing in Lok Sabha and assembly election last year. While many in the Congress say that the sympathy factor worked in the favour of Sena candidate, Rane’s politics of money and muscle power was once again rejected by the people. “Many of us believed that he might have done some ground work which why he was contesting from Bandra (East). He mobilised all Congress, NCP and Dalit leaders in the city and campaigned extensively but nothing worked out in our favour,” a Congress leader said on condition of anonymity. The leader added that that the result is also a setback for the state Congress as this was the first poll that took place after Ashok Chavan and Sanjay Nirupam took charge as state Congress chief and Mumbai congress chief respectively. “The bypoll loss is definitely a huge setback for us. Now, Rane will have no option but to lay low for at least a year. There is also a possibility of Rane being given chance to enter the legislative council or any party post. The picture will be clear only after the decision on whether to appoint the party leaders for election is taken, which will be decided only after vice president Rahul Gadhhi’s return," said another party leader. The leader said that someone like Rane couldn’t be immediately written off. “Many are asking what he will do now. But, there are many cases wherein the political leaders have suffered such defeats and still revived their fortunes after sometime,” he said. Another leader claimed that many in Congress did not want Rane to win the election. “Had we won the election, the political scenario would have changed. He would have been seen as an aggressive face and would habe grabbed the post of leader of opposition in assembly. So, many did not want Rane to win and did not work for him in assembly constituency,” he said. AIMIM was seen as a potential game-changer in a seat with a large Muslim voters but but its candidate, Rehbar Khan, polled only 15,050 votes, around 9,000 less than what he got in October 2014. Political observers said that the Sena’s victory in the bypoll is seen as one achieved by Sena president Uddhav Thackeray. Despite the absence of a Modi wave, the Sena’s victory margin has increased and the due credit should be given to Thackeray, who will now have an edge over BJP in the upcoming Mumbai civic elections in 2017, they said.