NEW DELHI: Nilesh Rane, son of BJP MP and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, joined the Shiv Sena ahead of the state assembly elections on Wednesday.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, addressing the media, said, "The massive turnout shows the support. Nilesh Rane will secure a victory with a lead of 52,000 votes."
Nilesh's formal induction into the Shiv Sena took place during a rally at Kudal, his father’s stronghold in Sindhudurg district.
According to party sources, Nilesh Rane’s switch from the BJP to the Shiv Sena is motivated by the seat-sharing arrangement in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which designates the Kudal constituency to the Shiv Sena.
Vaibhav Naik of Shiv Sena (UBT), a longtime rival of the Ranes, is the current MLA for Kudal, which falls under Narayan Rane's Lok Sabha constituency of Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
Nitesh, Nilesh's younger brother, represents the adjacent Kankavali assembly constituency and is affiliated with the BJP.
Nilesh Rane, who was previously with the Congress, served as the MP for the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency from 2009 to 2014. He joined the BJP in 2014 but lost in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
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