Narayan Rane meeting Amit Shah on Monday evening: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane will be meeting BJP president Amit Shah on Monday evening.

BJP leader and Maharashtra-in-Charge Saroj Pandey said that speculations on Rane joining the saffron party will be cleared after his meeting with party president Amit Shah.

"After a meeting with the party's national president something can be said. There will be discussions on the matter," Pandey told ANI.

Rane, who quit the Congress last week, will meet chief Amit Shah today evening in Delhi amid speculations that he will join the party.

Pandey added that if Rane accepts the BJP's ideology, he will be considered.

A former chief minister during the Shiv Sena-BJP government, Rane defected to Congress in 2005 after criticising Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's son and political heir Uddhav.

He was a minister in successive Congress governments till 2014 when the party lost power to the BJP.

Rane lost the last Assembly elections in 2014 and a by-poll in Mumbai's Bandra.

He quit the party after state leadership dissolved the Sindhudurg unit dominated by his supporters.