Maharashtra: Will the two Senas join hands in Rane’s bastion?

Mumbai: Will the two Shiv Senas join hands in Sindhudurg district of coastal Konkan belt to put up a united fight against the Rane family? 

This is emerging as one of the key issues in state politics with the State Election Commission setting the ball rolling for the election process for 288 nagar parishads (municipal councils) and 42 nagar panchayats (town panchayats) of Maharashtra. 

In Sindhudurg, there are three nagar parishads - Sawantwadi, Vengurla and Malvan and one nagar panchayat - Kankavli.

The talks of a possible alliance is going on in Kankavli. 

The Rane-family wields considerable influence in the South Konkan region - while Narayan Rane, a former Chief Minister and ex-Union Minister, is currently the Lok Sabha MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, his two sons are MLAs.

A former Congress MP, Nilesh Rane is a first-time MLA of Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena from Kudal while BJP’s Nitesh Rane is a three-time MLA from Kankavli and is the Ports and Fisheries in the Devendra Fadnavis-headed MahaYuti-NDA government.

The talks of joining hands between Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Shiv Sena headed by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is being talked at the local level. 

The speculations gained currency when Shiv Sena leader and former MLA Rajan Teli proposed a ‘city development council’, for Kankavli town polls while Sandesh Parkar, a Sena (UBT) local leader, has been projecting himself as a joint candidate on the panel. 

Parkar is a strong political opponent of the Rane family.

Teli, once a close aide of Rane, had left the BJP to join Thackeray and later shifted alliance to Shinde.

Thackeray, a former Chief Minister, has specifically instructed party UBT Sena colleagues from having any alliance with the Shiv Sena. 

On the other hand, the Senior Rane had announced that he will snap ties with the Shinde Sena in the twin districts of  Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg if  it joins hands with Uddhav’s party.

“If that happens, we will snap ties with Shiv Sena at least in these two districts,” said Rane. “Teli is neither  a leader nor any office bearer (of Shiv Sena),” he said. 

Teli does not get along with Nitesh Rane.

Shinde aide and state Industries Minister Uday Samant, who hails from Ratnagiri, said: "Rane Saheb has worked in Sindhudurg and done a lot for this district. We have decided to go soft on the issue. We are not taking any steps to stop the BJP in these two districts or Konkan or anywhere in the state.” 

“I am not aware of a meeting among  the local leaders over the alliance…such an alliance will not happen,” Thackeray aide and former Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut said.