Former Congress MLA Nitesh Rane on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Nitesh is the son of former Congress leader Narayan Rane.
Narayan Rane had quit the Congress in 2017 and formed a regional political party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Party. Nitesh joined the BJP amidst speculations that his father was mulling to merge his party with the BJP. However, continuous objections from Shiv Sena has made the BJP hold the decision.
Narayan Rane had served as the CM of Maharashtra from February 1, 1999 to October 17, 1999. He was with the Shiv Sena till 2005. He is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from BJP’s quota.
Earlier on Wednesday, Narayan Rane had said that his son will contest the polls from Kankavli seat on BJP’s ticket. He even claimed that Nitesh’s name will figure in the second list of the BJP. The second list of the BJP was released yesterday but Nitesh’s name was missing from it.
Nitesh had won the 2014 Assembly elections from Kankavli seat in Sindhudurg district on a Congress ticket. He had defeated the then BJP MLA Pramod Jathar.
The BJP released its second list of 14 candidates on Wednesday night. School education minister Vinod Tawde, power minister Chandrashekar Bawankule and senior leader Eknath Khadse did not figure in it. Namita Mundada, who joined the saffron party after the NCP chief Sharad Pawar announced her candidature from Kej seat, is in the BJP’s second list. Similarly, Gopichand Padalkar who contested on the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi ticket from Sangli during the Lok Sabha elections (and lost), finds his name in the BJP’s list. He will contest from Baramati.
Senior Congress legislator Gopaldas Agarwal, who crossed over to the BJP recently, will contest from Gondia.On Tuesday, the BJP had announced first list of 125 names, which included Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (Nagpur South West) and state unit chief Chandrakant Patil (Kothrud).