Mumbai: Completing the political circle for the family, Nilesh Rane, the elder son of former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, joined the Shiv Sena almost after two decades on Wednesday. He is likely to be the candidate for the party from Kudal-Malvan Assembly constituency.
Narayan Rane had quit Shiv Sena in 2005 after differences with Uddhav Thackeray. Nilesh immediately joined the politics at the age of 27 when he completed his studies in Philosophy. The next year, in 2009 he contested Lok Sabha from the Saindhudurg-Ratnagiri on a Congress ticket and won. His father was Industry Minister in the state at that time.
Known for his short temperedness Nilesh had managed to have a grip over the administration. However, he lost two back-to-back Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 to Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut.
Narayan Rane joined the BJP in 2020 and eventually became MSME Minister in the Narendra Modi government. At present, Rane is a member of Lok Sabha from Sindhudurg.
Nilesh’s political journey has not been smooth since last decade. Fed up with the uneasiness he had announced retirement from the active politics in 2023 at the age of 42. This announcement compelled the BJP to take a serious note. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave Nilesh a patient ear and resolved his issues. Nilesh reverted his decision to quit politics.
Nilesh wanted to contest from the Kudal Assembly seat on a BJP ticket. However, since the seat falls in the quota of Shiv Sena and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was not willing to give up his party’s claim on that seat a mean way was found for Nilesh. He was offered an election ticket from Shiv Sena from the same Kudal constituency. The Ranes accepted the proposal happily.
Nilesh is likely to face his bete noire Vaibhav Naik of Shiv Sena (UBT) in Kudal. Naik had defeated Narayan Rane from the same constituency in 2019.
If he is elected he will be another aggressive face for the Mahayuti in the Legislative Assembly apart from his younger brother Nitesh.
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