Political implications of Narayan Rane teaming up with Maharashtra BJP
I prefer organic farming. It helps crops grow without damaging the field,” a senior BJP minister told Mail Today. Agriculture is not his portfolio but he mentioned organic farming, which is supposed to be free of adulteration and contamination, while referring to the BJP’s plans of expanding its base in the Konkan region with the help of Congress "rebel" Narayan Rane, the former chief minister who was sacked from the Shiv Sena in 2005 for targeting Uddhav Thackeray. The minister suggested that the BJP will neither grow nor remain impure when it joins hands with Rane.
The BJP is all set to accommodate Rane in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after he launches his outfit on October 1. After its initial dilemma over whether or not to induct the firebrand leader from Konkan in the party, the BJP has managed to hit two birds with one stone. It has diluted the Shiv Sena’s stiff opposition by keeping Rane at bay.
On the other hand, it has silenced the angry RSS cadre who couldn’t even think of working with Rane, after his alleged highhandedness in the coastal district of Sindhudurg.
The move, however, is unlikely to benefit the BJP much, even though a section of the party believes that an association with Rane will help it grow in three districts of Konkan — Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Raigad — which have 15 Assembly seats. At present, the BJP only has one MLA out of these 15 seats. Prashant Thakur, who defected from the Congress one month before the election, won on a BJP ticket from Panvel. The BJP hopes to raise its tally from one to six after Rane joins.
The majority of the leaders, however, believe that the BJP won’t gain much because of Rane, who had lost the October 2014 Assembly election from Kudal. “He is a spent force. We will damage ourselves instead of gaining anything,” a leader from Konkan said.
The Congress had systematically isolated Rane after he opened a front against state president Ashok Chavan. He had managed to win 27 seats out of 50 for the Congress in the Sindhudurg zila parishad election held four months ago. Congress’ victory was an outcome of the division of votes between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, the latter won the remaining 23 seats.
The Shiv Sena says the BJP has lost a good opportunity to demolish Rane’s influence by helping him revive. “Rane could not win a single seat in the name of his outfit,” said Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar, minister of state for home. “Each party has at least 15 per cent fixed voters. But Rane doesn’t enjoy any such support from the masses.”
Rane’s bargaining power with the BJP will depend on the results of the local gram panchayat elections on October 16. If he fails to impress the voters, that will be the last nail in his political coffin.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)