Union Minister Narayan Rane was on Tuesday afternoon arrested in Maharashtra over his controversial remark that he would have “slapped Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray” for his “ignorance about the year of India’s Independence”.
Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey issued orders for Rane’s immediate arrest after an FIR was registered against him in the north Maharashtra city, NDTV reported.
He was taken into custody by police in coastal Ratnagiri district, where he is travelling as part of the Jan Ashirwad Yatra, an official said.
Rane was taken to the Sangameshwar police station after being taken into custody, the official said. There were reports that the BJP leader complained of high blood pressure and sugar levels and a doctor was called to examine him.
“I have not done any offence. If someone defames me, I will file cases against them,” the Union minister reacted.
Two FIRs have been registered against Rane in Pune and Mahad, while complaints have been filed in Nasik, Thane and Pune. Besides reporting the matter at the police stations, the infuriated Shiv Sainiks have put up hoardings in Mumbai.
The BJP leader had claimed that Thackeray forgot the year of independence during his August 15 address to the people of the state and had to check the detail with his aides midway during the speech.
Rane’s remarks drew sharp reactions from Shiv Sena, whose workers put several posters in Mumbai and other places, calling him a kombdi chor’ (chicken stealer), a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur five decades ago, during his initial stint with the Bal Thackeray-led party.
Shiv Sena’s Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut said Rane has lost his mental balance. “To impress BJP leadership, Rane has been attacking Shiv Sena and its leaders. He lost his mental balance after his induction into the Modi-led ministry. Modi should show him the door,” Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut said.
Former CM Devendra Fadnavis said that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not support Union minister’s comment. The statement came after activists of the Shiv Sena’s youth wing and the BJP clashed with each other near Rane’s residence in Mumbai.
“We do not support Union Minister Narayan Rane’s remarks on the chief minister. One can get angry for not remembering the Amrit Mahotsav year of India’s Independence, this is natural,” Fadnavis said.
Rane flagged off his political life in Mumbai with the son-of-the-soil party led by Bal Thackeray in the late 1960s. He entered the Maharashtra Assembly in 1990 as a Sena MLA.
In February 1999 when he was sworn in as Maharashtra’s 13th chief minister. That stint was short as the then Shiv Sena-BJP combine lost the state Assembly elections held later that year. In 2005, Rane parted ways with the Shiv Sena following irreconcilable differences with the Thackerays.
After quitting the Sena, he joined the Congress and was made state revenue minister. He quit the Congress in 2017, saying he had joined it on assurance of being put in the state’s top position in six months. He founded the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha with his two sons Nilesh and Nitesh as his key generals but later merged it with the BJP.
Over the years, Rane’s rivals have linked him to several incidents of violence, claiming his involvement in the murder of a Sena worker and some other crimes in Konkan’s Sindhudurg district.
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