Narayan Rane, a Union Minister, was arrested in Maharashtra on Tuesday afternoon over his controversial remark that he would have “slapped Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray” for his “ignorance of the year of India’s Independence.”
According to NDTV, Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey ordered Rane’s immediate arrest after a FIR was filed against him in the north Maharashtra city.
According to an official, he was apprehended by police in the coastal Ratnagiri district, where he was travelling as part of the Jan Ashirwad Yatra.
After being apprehended, Rane was transported to the Sangameshwar police station, according to the source. According to reports, the BJP leader had high blood pressure and sugar levels, prompting a doctor to check him.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. I would initiate proceedings against anyone who defames me,” the Union minister said.
Rane has been charged in two FIRs filed in Pune and Mahad, as well as complaints filed in Nasik, Thane, and Pune. In addition to filing police reports, the enraged Shiv Sainiks have erected hoardings throughout Mumbai.
Thackeray overlooked the year of independence during his August 15 address to the people of the state, according to the BJP leader, who had to check the detail with his aides midway through the speech.
Shiv Sena workers slammed Rane’s comments, putting up posters in Mumbai and other cities labelling him a kombdi chor (chicken thief), a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur during his first tenure with the Bal Thackeray-led party five decades ago.
Rane has lost his mental balance, according to Shiv Sena’s Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut. Rane has been assaulting Shiv Sena and its leaders in order to impress the BJP leadership. Following his admission into the Modi-led administration, he lost his mental equilibrium. Modi should kick him out, according to Sindhudurg MP Vinayak Raut.
Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not agree with the comments made by a Union minister. The declaration was made after activists from the Shiv Sena’s youth wing and the BJP battled near Rane’s Mumbai home.
“We oppose Union Minister Narayan Rane’s comments towards the chief minister. It is normal to feel enraged for not honouring the Amrit Mahotsav year of India’s independence,” Fadnavis added.
In the late 1960s, Rane began his political career in Mumbai with the son-of-the-soil party founded by Bal Thackeray. He was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly as a Sena MLA in 1990.
He was sworn in as Maharashtra’s 13th chief minister in February 1999. That tenure was short-lived, as the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition lost the state Assembly elections later that year. Rane split from the Shiv Sena in 2005 due to irreconcilable disputes with the Thackerays.
He joined the Congress after leaving the Sena and was appointed state revenue minister. He resigned from Congress in 2017, claiming that he had enlisted on the promise of being appointed to the state’s top office within six months. With his two sons Nilesh and Nitesh as important generals, he created the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, which he eventually united with the BJP.
Rane’s opponents have accused him of involvement in various violent episodes, including the murder of a Sena worker and other crimes in Konkan’s Sindhudurg area.
