Kudal (Maharashtra): Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane announced on Thursday that he has quit the party and also resigned as a Member of Legislative Council.
Rane said that he would take a call on his future within the next two weeks amid speculation that he would join the BJP.
Addressing a meet of his followers in Kudal in Sindhudurg district of coastal Konkan area, he said that he had sent his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He slammed the Congress leadership for reneging on its promises of making him the chief minister when he joined the party 12 years ago.
Rane said that the Congress never knew how to utilize him, but would realise his importance now after all his supporters from every district follow him and quit the party. “They are not interested in growing as a party... What will you remove me from the party, I myself am quitting the party,” he said.
“A lot of people are with me... I will finish both the Congress and the Shiv Sena,” he said.
Rane, who was the chief minister in 1999 while being part of the Shiv Sena, had joined the Congress in 2005 after the emergence of Uddhav Thackeray. The day after he joined the party, he was made the revenue minister in the then Congress-led government in the state.
However, he claimed that he was promised by Ahmed Patel that he would be made the chief minister. “Even Madam (Sonia Gandhi) had told me twice that I would be made the chief minister,” he added.
Speculations had been rife for quite a while that Rane would quit the Congress. He had met BJP president Amit Shah in Ahmedabad a few months ago. During the recent Ganesh festival, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had also visited Rane's residence. Rane said Nilesh Rane, his son and former Congress MP, has also resigned from the party.
Comments
0 comment