Sena created hurdles in my entry into BJP: Rane

Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane said on Saturday that the BJP was all set to admit him into the party in the past, but its ally Shiv Sena opposed it.

He was, nonetheless, about to join the BJP soon, he said.

Rane, a former Shiv Sena leader who later joined the Congress before starting his own outfit, was speaking at an interactive session at Pune International Literary Festival.

"Everything was decided, the cabinet position (which he was supposed to get) was also decided, but it (Shiv Sena) said if the BJP took me in, it will walk out of the government," Rane claimed.

"It seems they (Shiv Sena) are scared of me," he said, replying to a question whether the Sena was coming in the way of his entry into the BJP.

Rane was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the BJP's support.

"BJP has invited me. I have accepted the proposal and I am joining it," he added.

After Bal Thackeray's death, the Shiv Sena's "tiger" has turned into a "sheep", and its leaders lack "ideological morality", Rane, who had a bitter falling-out with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in 2005, said.