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Congress didn’t keep its word, says Rane
| “I had the support of at least 45 of the 97 legislators” |
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane addresses a press conference in Mumbai on Friday.
MUMBAI: The Congress has barely decided on a new Chief Minister in Maharashtra when it is faced with another crisis in the State.
A miffed Narayan Rane, Revenue Minister in the outgoing Cabinet, on Friday said he had no future in the Congress and also expressed his lack of confidence in the top leadership, including Sonia Gandhi. He did not indicate his future plans or whether he would form his own party.
He told journalists that he should have been made Chief Minister, since he had the support of at least 45 of the 97 legislators who met the central observers of the Congress on Thursday. Mr. Rane, whose exit from the Shiv Sena created a sensation, brought several Sena men into the Congress fold and helped it increase its strength in the Assembly to 75.
Almost timing his outburst for the announcement of Ashok Chavan’s name as Chief Minister in New Delhi, Mr. Rane told the press conference at his residence that the future of the Congress in Maharashtra was “zero.”
He said he would refuse any post offered by the party. He said Mr. Ashok Chavan’s only qualification was that he was Congress leader S.B. Chavan’s son. He had experience as Chief Minister and he was competent unlike Mr. Chavan, Mr. Rane said.
He charged that the Congress did not take into account the feelings of the people of Maharashtra or the legislators. Nor did it keep its word. He said he was very upset with the party and criticised it for taking nearly two days to decide on the new leader. He denied putting pressure on the party with his criticism. Politicians would be stoned in Maharashtra, he warned.
Mr. Rane claimed that certain Central and State leaders had hatched a conspiracy against him so that he would not be made Chief Minister. He, however, thanked External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar for their efforts to ensure a fair choice of Chief Minister.
Hitting out at Vilasrao Deshmukh, who resigned as Chief Minister on Thursday, Mr. Rane alleged that he was responsible for last week’s terror attacks in Mumbai. Mr. Rane also questioned Mr. Deshmukh’s loyalty, saying he was once expelled from the Congress for contesting an election on Shiv Sena ticket. Mr. Rane alleged that Mr. Deshmukh and his supporters had called MLAs to the Chief Minister’s official residence and put pressure on them to support Mr. Chavan’s candidature, if they wanted ticket to contest in the next Assembly elections.
Mr. Rane’s supporters gathered in numbers at his residence and shouted slogans against Mr. Deshmukh. They blocked traffic in the evening for a while.
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