Meaning of making Narayan Rane a minister: BJP strengthens Konkan stronghold against Shiv Sena, a big effort to reach Maratha community too

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and veteran Marathi leader Narayan Rane, who joined the BJP via Shiv Sena, has now joined the Modi team. He has been made a cabinet minister – File photo.

Shiv Sena then left Congress and joined BJP, Narayan Rane has now become a part of the Modi cabinet. The BJP has strengthened its Konkan stronghold by giving Rane a ministerial berth. The Rane family is considered to be dominant in Konkan.

The Maratha community has been angry with the Mahavikas Aghadi government after the Supreme Court canceled the Maratha reservation. Narayan Rane comes from the Maratha community and the BJP has tried to serve this community by making him a minister.

The Konkan constituency has always been part of the Shiv Sena in the seat-sharing arrangement with the BJP ever since the Shiv Sena forged an alliance with the BJP in 1989. As a result, the BJP has a negligible presence in the region, which the party has been trying to change since 2014 to be able to control Maharashtra without relying on the Shiv Sena. That’s why BJP was looking for a face who can give competition to Shiv Sena.

Rane and his family have influence in two districts covering the Mumbai region, Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburbs, as well as Ratnagiri, Sindh Durg, Raigad, Thane and Palghar districts.

BJP’s influence will be strong on 21 seats
Marathi youth from the Konkan region come to Mumbai in search of jobs and send money to their homes, due to which the Konkan region, especially Ratnagiri and Sindhu Durg, is informally referred to as the ‘money order economy’. Barring Mumbai and Thane, the rest of the Konkan region has 21 assembly seats.

Of these, three are in the BJP’s account, Kankavali in Sindhu Durg, from where Rane’s son Nitesh Rane is an MLA, besides the party has two seats in Raigad district. Shiv Sena also holds 10 seats here. Other seats are occupied by Congress, NCP.

Shiv Sena was upset with the alliance with Rane’s party
BJP’s efforts to dent Shiv Sena’s base in Konkan began in the open when the party forged an alliance with Rane in 2019. Since Rane’s entry into the party, the BJP has been continuously claiming that it has now captured Konkan. Shiv Sena’s Raut, however, denies the BJP’s claims.

According to him, ‘What does the BJP mean when it says that its influence is increasing in Konkan? Only Indus fort is not Konkan. It has only three assembly seats, out of which BJP has only one seat.