Maharashtra: Narayan Rane's son Nitesh joins BJP ahead of state polls

Ahead of Maharashtra assembly polls, former Congress MLA Nitesh Rane joined the BJP party on Thursday. He is the son of former Maharashtra chief minister and former Congress leader Narayan Rane. Nitesh Rane will be contesting the legislative assembly elections from Kankavli seat in coastal Konkan, as announced by his father earlier on Wednesday. Notably, Nitesh had earlier won the 2014 Assembly polls from the Kankavli seat in Sindhudurg district on Congress ticket by defeating the then BJP MLA Pramod Jathar. Earlier his father joined BJP and currently serves as a Rajya Sabha MP on BJP quota.

After parting ways with the Congress party in 2017, former Minister Narayan Rane founded a regional political party - Maharashtra Swabhiman Party. He has announced that he will merge his outfit with the BJP, with whose support he is now a Rajya Sabha member. He was earlier with the Shiv Sena, which he quit in 2005 to join the Congress party. 

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Nitesh Rane's controversy

Earlier in July 2019, Nitesh Rane faced major wrath after he and his supporters attacked a government official over potholes on the highway. He and his supporters took the matter in their own hands and threw mud on a highway engineer in broad daylight after local administration was not repairing the potholes on the highway. An FIR was lodged against Nitesh Rane and his supporters under the Sections 353, 342, 332, 324, 323, 120(A), 147, 143, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code. He had also surrendered to the police for his action. 

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Maharashtra assembly elections

The elections for the 288-member Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra will be held on October 21, along with Haryana in a single phase. Counting of votes in both states will take place on October 24. While Shiv Sena and BJP are contesting the elections in an alliance, the two parties have yet not disclosed their seat-share arrangement for the polls. As per reports, the seat-share arrangement is still being discussed between the two parties. 

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(With PTI inputs)