Also Rane

BJP dumps former chief minister Narayan Rane to please the Shiv Sena

- Dnyanesh Jathar

During his recent three-day tour of western Maharashtra, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the Devendra Fadnavis government. While addressing a farmers’ rally, he said the only two beneficiaries of the government are Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.

Just two days before this speech, Patil had gone to Matoshree (the Thackeray home) to discuss a range of political issues. As the discussion came to a close, he asked Thackeray whether it would suit him to travel to Kolhapur with Fadnavis as both of them were scheduled to go there. He politely declined, telling Patil that his schedule had already been finalised.

Thackeray, perhaps, has made up his mind not to spare the BJP the lashes. It was evident not just from his speeches during the tour but also in the way the Shiv Sena cornered the BJP when the issue of Narayan Rane’s byelection to the state legislative council came up. Former Sena man Rane, who quit the Congress in September to form his Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, had also resigned his membership in the legislative council.