Narayan Rane holds late night meeting in Amit Shah's residence, Fadnavis also present

A big change may be offing in Maharashtra politics with ex-CM Narayan Rane meeting Amit Shah in BJP President's Delhi residence on Wednesday night. Devendra Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP President Ashish Shelar were also present in the meeting. The meeting lasted from 11.30 PM to 12.30 AM. 

On Wednesday, there was a meeting of BJP chief Ministers where top central leaders including PM Modi, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and others were present. Post that, Devendra Fadnavis stayed back and attended the Rane meeting. Narayan Rane's son Nitish too was also present. 

According to sources, the discussion on Narayan Rane's strategy of joining hands with BJP was discussed. Whether NCP can be tapped in as alternative to Shiv Sena was also discussed. Senior leader Narayan Rane had left Congress in bitter terms a few months ago. He later set up Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha.There have been widespread speculation of him aligning with the BJP and being given an important portfolio in state or centre. Reports indicate BJP is keen to give a Rajya Sabha ticket to Narayan Rane and later he may be given a Central ministry. Elections to 58 Rajya Sabha seats is due on March 23 and last date for filing nominations is on March 12. There are six seats from Maharashtra and BJP is expected to win at least 3 of them. However, it remains to be seen whether Narayan Rane who is a major player in Maharashtra will be willing to shift his base to the capital. 

Amit Shah as party president has aggressively recruited talent from other parties to grow BJP's clout in different parts of the country. The strategy has been particularly been successful in North East where Himanta Biswa Sarma has been a major gamechanger.