Ex-South Actor In Spotlight for Hanuman Chalisa Row: Meet Amravati MP Navneet Rana, Who's Now BJP Lok Sabha Candidate

Day after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Amravati’s independent MP Navneet Rana landed in Mumbai on Thursday to meet Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Navneet joined the BJP at the Bawankule’s residence in Nagpur along with her supporters and in the presence of senior party leaders from Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha and other places. Her husband Ravi Rana, an MLA, was also present when she joined the BJP.

Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi first hit the national headlines in 2022 in connection with a controversy over reciting the Hanuman Chalisa.

The lawmaker couple was booked under Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code for “resisting arrest and obstructing cops from performing their duty”.

The duo had allegedly obstructed police officers, who visited their residence in Mumbai’s suburban Khar for arresting them after they announced a plan to recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside the private residence of then Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in Bandra.

Who is Navneet Rana?

• According to a report by India.com, Navneet Kaur Rana hails from Mumbai and is the daughter of an Army official. After completing her schooling, Rana started working as a model. She appeared in multiple music videos. Soon Rana also started working in South Indian films.

• Naveent Rana also hogged the headlines after she blamed the MVA government for the Udaipur-like killing in Amravati as she criticised the former Amravati police commissioner for communal riots and killings, a report by IANS stated.

• She started her political career after marrying politician Ravi Rana, and contested her first election from Amravati in 2014 on an NCP ticket but did not manage to win the election. Later, Rana was elected from Amravati in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate.

• IANS report stated that Navneet Rana shares a good rapport with deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and also with BJP’s central leadership, including Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

• Some reports stated that the Bombay high court had fined her Rs 2 lakh in 2021 for submitting a fake caste certificate. Last month, the Supreme Court completed the hearing on the petition against Rana’s caste validity and is expected to pronounce the verdict next week.