<p>Mumbai: Its Thackerays-vs-Ranes in the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat in the coastal Konkan belt of <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra">Maharashtra</a>. </p><p>Days after Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) announced the name of close Thackeray-family aide and two-time sitting MP Vinayak Raut from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg LS seat, the BJP has declared that Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane to contest the polls. </p><p>The coastal Konkan belt is the bastion of Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena. </p>.<p>The elections to Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg is going to be fiercely contested as the Thackerays and Ranes are bete noire.</p><p>Rane, a former Chief Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition was expelled by Balasaheb in 2005 for raising a banner of revolt against Uddhav. Rane later joined the Congress to become a minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government. </p><p>However, his dream of becoming the Chief Minister or the Maharashtra Congress President never realised and he left the grand old party in 2017. </p><p>Rane floated Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha (MSP) which he later merged with the BJP and became a Rajya Sabha member. Thereafter, he was appointed a minister in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. </p>.Maharashtra minister Uday Samant backs Narayan Rane’s candidature from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat.<p>From Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Rane’s older son Dr Nilesh Rane won the seat on a Congress seat but was defeated in 2014 and 2019 by Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut, who is close aid of Uddhav and his son Aaditya Thackeray. </p><p>In 2014, Nilesh contested on a Congress ticket and in 2019 on a MSP ticket, however, on both occasions, he was defeated by Raut, who before becoming a Lok Sabha member, was an MLA from Vile Parle in Mumbai and an ex-MLC.</p><p>Rane’s younger son Nitesh Rane is a BJP MLA from Kankavli, a seat from where he has represented Congress earlier. </p><p>The six Vidhan Sabha segments and the MLAs are: Chiplun (Shekhar Nikam - NCP, Ratnagiri (Uday Samant - Shiv Sena), Rajapur (Rajan Salvi - Shiv Sena-UBT), Kankavli (Nitesh Rane - BJP), Kudal (Vaibhav Naik - Shiv Sena-UBT) and Sawantwadi (Deepak Kesarkar - Shiv Sena).</p>
<p>Mumbai: Its Thackerays-vs-Ranes in the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat in the coastal Konkan belt of <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra">Maharashtra</a>. </p><p>Days after Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) announced the name of close Thackeray-family aide and two-time sitting MP Vinayak Raut from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg LS seat, the BJP has declared that Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane to contest the polls. </p><p>The coastal Konkan belt is the bastion of Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena. </p>.<p>The elections to Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg is going to be fiercely contested as the Thackerays and Ranes are bete noire.</p><p>Rane, a former Chief Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition was expelled by Balasaheb in 2005 for raising a banner of revolt against Uddhav. Rane later joined the Congress to become a minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government. </p><p>However, his dream of becoming the Chief Minister or the Maharashtra Congress President never realised and he left the grand old party in 2017. </p><p>Rane floated Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha (MSP) which he later merged with the BJP and became a Rajya Sabha member. Thereafter, he was appointed a minister in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. </p>.Maharashtra minister Uday Samant backs Narayan Rane’s candidature from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat.<p>From Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Rane’s older son Dr Nilesh Rane won the seat on a Congress seat but was defeated in 2014 and 2019 by Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut, who is close aid of Uddhav and his son Aaditya Thackeray. </p><p>In 2014, Nilesh contested on a Congress ticket and in 2019 on a MSP ticket, however, on both occasions, he was defeated by Raut, who before becoming a Lok Sabha member, was an MLA from Vile Parle in Mumbai and an ex-MLC.</p><p>Rane’s younger son Nitesh Rane is a BJP MLA from Kankavli, a seat from where he has represented Congress earlier. </p><p>The six Vidhan Sabha segments and the MLAs are: Chiplun (Shekhar Nikam - NCP, Ratnagiri (Uday Samant - Shiv Sena), Rajapur (Rajan Salvi - Shiv Sena-UBT), Kankavli (Nitesh Rane - BJP), Kudal (Vaibhav Naik - Shiv Sena-UBT) and Sawantwadi (Deepak Kesarkar - Shiv Sena).</p>