Narayan Rane announces new party 'Maharashtra Swabhimaan Paksh'

Former Congress leader, Narayan Rane on Sunday announced that he will form a new party which will be called 'Maharashtra Swabhimaan Paksh'.

Rane's decision of forming a new party came after he quit the Congress last week and met BJP chief Amit Shah in New Delhi amid speculation that he will join the saffron party.

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.