Narayan Rane to quit Chavan cabinet on Monday

Sulking Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said he will quit the Prithviraj Chavan ministry on Monday but has decided to remain in the Congress.

“I will announce my future political plans on Monday,” Rane said when asked if he would campaign for the party in the coming assembly elections. Clarifying that he is very much in the Congress and not joining any other party, Rane said, “I have not met Bharatiya Janata Party leader leader Nitin Gadkari. I had met him last when Gopinath Munde passed away.”

Rane, a chief ministerial aspirant, is upset with the party for not giving him the top post, which he always claimed was promised to him when he joined the Congress after leaving the Shiv Sena in 2005.

The ex-chief minister will travel by road to Kankavli, his constituency in Konkan on Friday. “I will meet my supporters in Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg and hold a meeting of supporters in Kankavli on Sunday,” he said.

Denying that it was late to quit the government, Rane said he takes decisions at an appropriate time. Rane had resigned as minister after his son Nilesh lost the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency in the May general elections. However, the party did not accept his resignation.

Rane said he did not meet the Congress leadership before making up his mind to quit and refused to respond to questions on reasons behind his exit from the ministry.