Maharashtra Assembly elections: Nilesh Rane moves to Sena as open season begins in the state

Nilesh Rane
| Photo Credit: Today News 24

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nilesh Rane on Tuesday (October 22, 20224) said he will join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and contest from the Kudal Assembly seat while another BJP leader, Rajkumar Badole, joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP ahead of the Maharashtra elections.

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While Mr. Nilesh Rane and Mr. Badole crossed over to the BJP’s allies as part of seat-adjustment in the ruling coalition, the party received a jolt in Navi Mumbai where its leader Sandeep Naik joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

Mr. Nilesh Rane is the son of BJP MP Narayan Rane. As per the seat-sharing arrangement of the Mahayuti alliance, Kudal constituency is with the Shiv Sena and hence he would switch from the BJP to the Sena, party sources said.

Vaibhav Naik of Shiv Sena (UBT), an old rival of the Ranes, is the current MLA of Kudal which is part of Mr. Narayan Rane’s Lok Sabha constituency, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.

Mr. Nilesh Rane, who was earlier with the Congress, was the MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg from 2009 to 2014. He joined the BJP in 2014 and lost the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Mr. Sandeep Naik, a former MLA, joined the NCP (SP) and is likely to contest from Belapur where the BJP has renominated sitting MLA Manda Mhatre, a local rival, sources said.

Mr. Sandeep Naik’s father and former Minister Ganesh Naik, who wields significant clout in Navi Mumbai, has been renominated by the BJP from Airoli constituency in the area.

The old feud between the Naik family and Mr. Mhatre traditionally divides the Belapur constituency, which has a significant population of the Agri-Koli community.

Elsewhere, Mr. Badole, a former Maharashtra Minister, joined the NCP which is part of the ruling coalition. He had won from Arjuni-Morgaon seat in 2009 and 2014 elections on the BJP ticket.

The seat is currently with the NCP and it was felt that Mr. Badole had better prospects there, hence he switched over to the NCP, sources said.

‘Won’t support Malik’

Meanwhile, BJP leader Ashish Shelar said his party is against the candidature of NCP leader Nawab Malik. “We will not accept giving a ticket to someone linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim,” Mr. Shelar, Mumbai BJP president, said. “We won’t support Malik and will have a different stand,” he added.

He was responding to media reports that Mr. Malik, sitting MLA from Anushakti Nagar in Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency, may contest from Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and leave the Anushakti Nagar constituency to his daughter Sana, who plans to make her debut in electoral politics.

Assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra in a single phase on November 20.