Rane, top Oppn leaders to join BJP

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, August 30

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane and several prominent leaders of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will join the BJP on Sunday in the presence of party president Amit Shah in Solapur, sources said.

BJP leaders say Rane’s two sons and senior NCP leader Padamsinh Patil, his son Jagjit Sinh Patil and former MP Dhananjay Mahadik will also join the party.

Rane had floated the Swambhimani Paksh after quitting the Congress and entered the Rajya Sabha with BJP support. The party is expected to field his son Nilesh Rane, a sitting Congress MLA from Kankavli, the sources said. His other son Nitesh is also likely to be fielded from the Konkan region.

“It is true that I am joining the BJP on Sunday. Other details will be announced later,” Rane said.

The sources say the BJP is still holding talks with several Opposition leaders, including former MP from Satara Udayanraje Bhosale who is a direct descendent of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and the final number of those joining it on Sunday could be even higher.

Shah will address a rally in Solapur after the second phase of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ Maha Janadesh Yatra that concludes on Sunday.

Two NCP leaders Bhaskar Jadhav and Avadhut Thakare have joined the Shiv Sena. So far about a dozen leaders, including MLAs from the NCP, have joined either the BJP or the Shiv Sena. The Congress has so far lost three of its sitting MLAs to the BJP, the sources said.