Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Narayan Rane has blamed Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for party’s loss in 1999 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Rane also blamed the Thackeray for the failure of his bid to topple the Congress-NCP government in 2002.
According to the Hindustan Times, Narayan Rane has made the allegations in his memoir, ‘No Holds Barred: My Years In Politics’. Rane in a chapter titled ‘Kissa Kursi Ka’ wrote, “The Sena, typically, after finalising its list of candidates, sends a signed copy with the names to [party mouthpiece] Saamana for publication. As soon as our complete list with Saheb’s [Bal Thackeray] signature reached Saamana, Uddhavji learnt of it and unilaterally replaced 15 of those candidates with other names. We were all caught off-guard.”
Rane further wrote, “Interestingly and unfortunately, the candidates replaced by Uddhavji were so disgruntled that they contested the election on tickets from other parties or as independents; 11 of them won! Had the candidates we had originally chosen been retained, we would have had a tally of 69+11 seats. And with support from independents and BJP, we would’ve comfortably crossed the half-way mark and formed the government.”
Rane in 2001-02 had orchestrated an operation to topple the Congress-NCP government. In a chapter titled ‘The Fallout’ he wrote, “Around June 8, Uddhavji visited the club, coincidentally when I’d stepped out for an important meeting. Sainiks at the venue informed me he had felt insulted I had not made myself available to him and had stormed off.”
But the Shiv Sena has denied also these allegations. Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande told the Hindustan Times, “He just wants to be in the news [by making such claims]. Nobody is interested in his autobiography; he is not some inspirational figure”.
