Maharashtra: Amid high stakes for all, Narayan Rane goes for broke

Narayan Rane on his way to file nomination for Bandra East Assembly constituency on Tuesday. (Express photo by: Kevin DSouza)

In an election with high stakes for everyone concerned, the biggest stakeholder is going for broke with a multifaceted strategy.

Narayan Rane has drawn from Narendra Modi’s book by fielding a large team with designated roles across Bandra East. In an election that could make or break him, the team will seek to restrict his campaign plank to the constituency rather than risk giving it a Rane-vs-Uddhav Thackeray scale. The party will also try and sell “local appeal” to Marathi voters — 60 per cent of the Marathi-speaking voters are from Rane’s Konkan. And to ward off a threat from Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, it is banking on Naseem Khan, former Congress minister for minority affairs, who is trying to ensure the Muslim vote doesn’t split.

“I began my career in Mumbai. I was a corporator and BEST committee chairman; I spent my childhood in Kherwadi in Bandra East,” Rane says. “People in the constituency know me, my work. They will surely vote for me. The tide has turned against the BJP-led government.”

But Rane, 62, has the odds against him. In October, the Congress had finished fourth in Bandra East, a Shiv Sena stronghold that is home to the Thackerays’ Matoshree. Although so many of them are of Konkan origin, the Marathi-speaking voters here are mostly Sena loyalists. Rane himself lost heavily in his pocket borough of Kudal. Written off then, the fallen former chief minister is making what is being seen as a last attempt at redemption.

His rival is Trupti Sawant of the Sena. She is the wife of Prakash (Bala) Sawant, the MLA whose death led to the April 11 bypoll. It is a prestige battle for the Sena, too, because the opponent is Rane, a former Sainik.

A desperate Congress has fielded a team of 50 MLAs across Bandra East, the way the BJP did across Lok Sabha seats last year. “Each one will be assigned five booths,” an member of Rane’s camp said. “Rane has evolved a three-tier model comprising local Congress workers, his own supporters, and party leaders.”

Those campaigning for Rane include current and former Mumbai Congress chiefs Sanjay Nirupam and Kripashankar Singh, apart from Naseem Khan. “The minority community is upset with the BJP-Sena government for withdrawing reservation for backward-class Muslims and the beef ban,” the former minority affairs minister said. “Since they have understood that voting for the AIMIM would mean an indirect vote to the Shiv Sena, they will vote for the Congress.”

The constituency has a significant Muslim and north Indian voting population. In the assembly poll, the AIMIM outpolled the Congress; it has now fielded the same candidate, Siraj (Raja) Rehbaar Khan. AIMIM leader Waaris Pathan, a legislator, says Rane will not even be in the race. “It will be a fight between the Sena and the AIMIM,” he said.

Former local MLA Janardan Chandurkar, also a former Mumbai Congress chief, and former minister Varsha Gaikwad are campaigning for Rane in areas where the backward classes are dominant; the constituency has over 50,000 Dalit voters.

For the Sena, senior leader Anil Parab vowed “the party will finish Rane in this election”. “Rane got all the posts when he was in the Sena. Since he joined the Congress in 2005, he has been going down,” Parab said.

The Sena is banking on its loyal base and Prakash Sawant’s mass connect. “The people will not forget his work. There is also sympathy for him,” another leader said. The Sena too has deployed party ministers, MPs and legislators. Uddhav and son Aditya, who are voters in the constituency, are expected to campaign aggressively too.

Neither party can be sure about its usual ally, though. Although the NCP has formally backed Rane’s candidature, senior party sources say they will not actively support him. If Rane wins, it will foil the NCP’s designs on the leader of the opposition’s post in the assembly. If he loses, it can help the NCP’s expansion plans in Konkan.

The BJP too has officially backed Sawant but its house is divided, with many leaders of the view that a Sena defeat would serve the BJP well with the Mumbai civic polls due in 2017.

UP & DOWN
1968: Shiv Sena at age 16
1985-1990: Corporator, BEST committee chairman
1990-95: MLA, Leader of Opposition
1999: Chief Minister
2005: From Sena to Congress, Revenue Minister
2008: Suspended by party for rebelling against then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh
2009: Back in cabinet
2014: Defeat in pocket borough

Source:: Indian Express