Sweet Victory for Shiv Sena in Maharashtra as BJP Overrules Narayan Rane's Candidature

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena was a happy alliance partner on Monday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) overruled the candidature of senior leader Narayan Rane for a Legislative Council seat by-election in Mumbai.

Prasad Lad filled his nomination papers on Monday for the same seat and Shiv Sena announced its support for Lad.

Late on Sunday night, Lad, another BJP candidate, met Uddhav Thackeray at his residence 'Matoshree'. Before that, several senior BJP leaders too made rounds of Matoshree to discuss a consensus over the candidate.

The names of Madhav Bhandari and Shaina NC were also being discussed in the past one week. Finally, BJP decided to field Prasad Lad.

The decision was preceded by a meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Narayan Rane. "The CM told me that all three parties (NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena) are likely to unite if BJP supports my candidature and at a time when the Gujarat polls are round the corner, the party did not want any adverse political decision. I agreed and I trust BJP to fulfill the promises has made to me," Rane told News18.

Since the time Narayan Rane left Congress a few months ago to become a minister in the BJP-Sena government in Maharashtra, the Sena had made its displeasure clear to the BJP. Rane and Uddhav don't see eye-to-eye ever since Rane deserted the Sena to join Congress a few decades ago.

Though Rane said he did not believe that Shiv Sena had the power to sway BJP's opinion on this matter, he agreed that the saffron party might have had to consider the objections raised by Shiv Sena.

"It is true that the Sena would have raised objections to the candidature of Narayan Rane, as the party is still angry about the way he betrayed Balasaheb Thackeray. We have decided to support the BJP candidate. This is a good step taken by the BJP. It will help improve relations between the two parties who have been in alliance for 25 years now," Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Home, told News18.

Lad will need 145 votes to be victorious in the Legislative Council by-election. The BJP has 122 seats, and the Sena has over 60.

Now, if Narayan Rane is inducted in the Maharashtra cabinet, he will have to get elected within six months of becoming a minister.