Cong rubbishes speculation on Narayan Rane rejoining party

The Congress in Maharashtra Monday sought to scotch speculation that former chief minister Narayan Rane was planning to return to the party fold ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The speculation started following a statement attributed to senior Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat which appeared in a section of the media.

Thorat, a CWC member, said he was asked about a media report in Ahmednagar to which he responded that he wasn't aware about it.

"I just questioned if Rane was happy in the BJP," he told PTI when asked about the reports on the Rajya Sabha MP rejoining the Congress which were attributed to him.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan, who is in Sindhudurg district for the last phase of the 'Jan Sampark Abhiyan' launched by the party, told reporters that Thorat has denied the statement attributed to him.

"Thorat spoke to me and categorically denied what is being attributed to him. There is no talk of re-inducting Narayan Rane into the party," Chavan asserted.

When contacted, Rane, who quit the Congress in September 2017 to form his own outfit and ally with the BJP, himself denied any possibility of going back to the Rahul Gandhi-led party.

"There is no truth in the speculation. I am not in touch with any Congress leader," he maintained.

The former Shiv Sena chief minister, who had joined the Congress in 2005, is currently a Rajya Sabha member on BJP ticket and also a member of the BJP manifesto committee.

Meanwhile, asked about the possibility of a pre-poll alliance with Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar, Chavan said, "The Congress is ready to align with him as part of the grand alliance in the state. Ambedkar, too, should show readiness to join hands with the Congress."
To a query on holding assembly polls in Maharashtra along with that of the Lok Sabha, the former chief minister said, "If that happens, BJP will be surely defeated."