Mumbai: Dotted with picturesque beaches, lush green forests, the Sahyadri mountain ranges of Western Ghats, and part of coastal Konkan belt’s ‘money-order economy’, the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat of Maharashtra is already witnessing intense politics.
The question is who is going to contest the Lok Sabha seat from these twin districts -- once considered the bastion of the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena.
The Vidhan Sabha constituencies within the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seats are—Chiplun, Ratnagiri and Rajapur (in Ratnagiri district) and Kankavli, Kudal and Sawantwadi (in Sindhudurg district).
Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray and his bete noire, Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane, a minister in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, have locked horns in the region.
Incidentally, Rane started his political career in the Shiv Sena and went on to become the Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, but was thrown out of the party by Balasaheb owing to differences with Uddhav, after which he joined the Congress and became a minister in the Democratic Front government.
However, in Congress, he was neither made the Chief Minister nor given the post of Maharashtra Congress President, after which he quit and formed the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, which he later merged with the BJP.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Rane’s older son—Dr Nilesh Rane—won the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat on a Congress ticket but was defeated in 2014 and 2019 by Shiv Sena’s Vinayak Raut, who is close to Uddhav and his son Aaditya Thackeray.
In 2014, Nilesh contested on a Congress ticket and in 2019 on a MSP ticket.
Rane’s younger son Nitesh is a BJP MLA from Kankavli, a seat from where he has represented Congress earlier.
As far as the Maha Vikas Aghadi is concerned, since Raut is a sitting MLA, he would contest from Shiv Sena (UBT).
However, as far as Maha Yuti is concerned, both BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena are keen to contest from the seat. Incidentally, two key aides of Shinde are from the region -- state Industries Minister Uday Samant (Ratnagiri) and state School Education and Marathi Language Minister Deepak Kesarkar (Sindhudurg). Both of them are three-term MLAs and have represented the respective seats earlier from Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ close aide Ravindra Chavan, who is Minister for Public Works (excluding Public Undertakings), has been made the Guardian Minister.
Recently, Nilesh Rane announced his decision to stay away from politics, but Fadnavis ensured a patch up between him and Chavan.
The BJP would have to take a call as to who would contest the seat -- Chavan or Nilesh Rane—or to give the seat to Shinde-led Shiv Sena, where Samant has sought a ticket for his brother Kiran Samant.
It may be mentioned that state BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule had travelled the twin districts extensively last year.
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