Narayan Rane

Narayan Rane
नारायण राणे
Member(elect) of Maharashtra Legislative Council
Preceded by	Dipti Chavdhari
Constituency	Elected by MLAs [1]
Minister for Industry, Port and Employment of Maharashtra State
In office 20 November 2010 – October 2014
Preceded by	Rajendra Darda
Minister for Revenue of Maharashtra
In office 15 June 1996 – 1 February 1999
Preceded by	Sudhir Joshi
Succeeded by	Eknath Khadse
16th Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 1 February 1999 – 17 October 1999
Preceded by	Manohar Joshi
Succeeded by	Vilasrao Deshmukh
Minister for Revenue of Maharashtra
In office 16 August 2005 – 6 December 2008
Preceded by	Vilasrao Deshmukh
Succeeded by	Patangrao Kadam
Minister for Industry of Maharashtra
In office 10 February 2009 – 9 November 2009
Preceded by	Ashok Chavan
Succeeded by	Rajendra Darda
Minister for Revenue of Maharashtra
In office 9 November 2009 – 19 November 2010
Preceded by	Patangrao Kadam
Succeeded by	Balasaheb Thorat
Personal details
Born	(1952-04-20) 20 April 1952
Political party	Indian National Congress (2005–present)
Other political affiliations	Shiv Sena (before 2005)
Spouse(s)	Neelam N. Rane
Children	Nilesh Rane Nitesh Rane
Residence	Malvan
Religion	Hindu

Narayan Rane (born 10 April 1952) is an Indian politician from the state Maharashtra and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He was a Minister for Industry, Port, Employment and Self-employment in the Government of Maharashtra. He was a member of Shiv Sena and opposition leader of Vidhan Sabha until July 2005 before he joined Indian National Congress party.

Political Journey

Rane joined Shiv Sena in his early twenties and started his political journey as local Shakha Pramukh at Chembur, Mumbai. Rane made a humble beginning as the owner of a chicken shop in partnership with his friend and lived in Subhash Nagar - a subsidized housing society for low income families. Then he became the Councillor of Kopargaon. His relentless efforts to consolidate the Shiv Sena in the Sindhudurg taluka, mobilizing large groups of youth and growing popularity as a young dynamic leader caught the eye of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. With the exit of Chagan Bhujbal from Shiv Sena in 1991, Rane gradually rose up within the ranks. In 1999, when Manohar Joshi stepped down from the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Narayan Rane succeeded him.

Differences arose within the Sena after Uddhav Thackeray was chosen as Shiv Sena working president. Rane publicly criticized Uddhav and questioned his administration abilities. This caused Shiv Sena to expel Rane from the party on 3 July 2005. Subsequently, he also resigned from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Rane later joined the Indian congress Party and was made the Revenue Minister of Maharashtra, often perceived as a powerful ministry. Rane sought re-election from his Malvan seat in the Konkan region on a Congress ticket and won with a lead of over 50,000 votes despite a well-fought and organised campaign by the Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena candidate Parshuram Uparkar even lost his deposit. It was first time in the history of Shiv Sena that the rebel had won. There is considerable rift between him and their allies from Nationalist Congress Party on various issues. These were more apparent during local body elections in 2011.

On 21 July, Rane submitted his resignation to the chief minister of Maharashtra, Prithviraj Chavan, to quit the post of Industries minister in Chavan's cabinet.^[2]

Suspension From Indian congress Party

In the wake of Mumbai attacks in 2008 Vilasrao Deshmukh, then Chief Minister of Maharashtra was removed from Chief Ministerial Post and Ashok Chavan was made Chief Minister. As soon as Ashok Chavan was made Chief Minister, Rane protested against Congress Party and its Senior Leaders resulting in suspension from Congress for six years. Later Rane apologize to Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi and was later inducted back into Congress Party and was made Minister for Industry of Maharashtra. Rane has never concealed his intentions and abilities to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He supervised the debut of his two sons- Nitesh and Nilesh in Maharashtra's political arena as his political heirs.

Newspaper Prahaar

Narayan Rane launched the Marathi daily Prahaar on 8 October 2008, under the banner of Rane Prakashan Pvt. Ltd. While he serves as the Consulting Editor, veteran journalist Madhukar Bhave is the editor of the newspaper. Speaking about the newspaper, Rane said a newspaper was a powerful weapon of public awareness and revolution and that he wanted to use it for the development of Maharashtra. In the signed editorial carried on the front page of his newspaper, Rane stated, "I am a politician. I had the honour of occupying several political positions over the past 40 years. I had to join the Congress after working for 39 years in the Shiv Sena. I feel it is the play of destiny in my life."

Election to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly

• 1990–1995
• 1995–1999
• 1999–2004
• 2004-2005(After Resignation from Shiv Sena)
• 2005-2009(by-election On Joining Indian congress Party)
• 2009–2014

Offices Held

• 1996–1999 Minister of Revenue, Dairy Development, Animal husbandry, Fisheries, Khar lands, Special assistance & rehabilitation.
• 1999 Chief Minister of Maharashtra State
• 2005–2008 Minister of Revenue
• 2009–2014 Minister of Industries, Revenue

Controversies

In August 2011, Maharashtra state legislative assembly saw a ruckus over former chief minister and industry minister Narayan Rane’s name figuring in the Adarsh housing society scam, opposition parties in the legislative council did an encore.^[3]

Pune-based RTI activist Ravindra Barhate exposed how Rane during his tenure as revenue minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP Government in 1998 had returned prime plot of land in Pune to a person who had already received compensation from the government under Land Acquisition Act. In 1998 revenue minister Rane in his position as a quasi-judicial authority had decided in favour of Datta Bahirat who had given his power of attorney to Rohan Builders. Bahirat through Rohan Builders had sought for returning his land that had been acquired by the government for housing flood-affected persons following the rupturing of Panshet dam at Pune in 1961. Citing a 1994 High Court order, Rane gave back the unused 2.15 lakh sq feet of the 2.75 lakh sq feet to Bahirat on the repayment of `16 lakh to the government exchequer.^[4]

In Jan 2011, a delegation of Shiv Sena leaders met Maharashtra Governor K Sankarnarayanan demanding a separate inquiry into alleged land scams which took place during the tenure of the then revenue minister Narayan Rane. The Sena leaders alleged that the state lost revenue of crores of rupees after Rane de-reserved several government plots in favour of individuals or private companies. Most of the matters later landed in the court.^[5]

Narayan Rane was in a spot in February 2011, after the Bombay high court issued him a notice following allegations that an organisation his wife, Neelam, heads misused an Andheri plot leased to it and built a restaurant on it. A public interest litigation (PIL), filed by Ashok Karangutkar, alleged that the Sindhudurg Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, of which Neelam is president, set up The Jail Restaurant & Lounge in Sindhudurg Bhavan at Four Bungalows, Andheri, on a plot given to it for educational activities.^[6]

See also

• Narayan Rane ministry

References

External links

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