CM Devendra Fadnavis asked me to join NDA, claims Narayan Rane

Renegade Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane claimed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has invited him to join the National Democratic Alliance, following a meeting between the two late evening on Tuesday.

The claim comes a mere two days after Rane announced he was floating a new organisation – the Maharashtra Swabhiman Pakhs – that would eventually be registered as a political party

Fadnavis and Rane met for about one-and-a-half hours; however, there were no official confirmation of the said offer from the CM's office.

Rane said that he would take a call on the offer after two days. Rane, who is a strong Maratha community leader, particularly in the Konkan belt, worked with the Shiv Sena for 39 years, but quit 12 years ago to join the Congress.

Sources said that Rane would be helped by the BJP to become MLC again after by-polls. Rane could be inducted in the Fadnavis cabinet at the time of an impending.

Fadnavis, who will complete three years in office at the end of October, is likely to effect a Cabinet expansion a few days before Diwali, and Rane could be made minister, along the same lines as alliance partners Mahadev Jankar and Sadabhau Khot. Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Party is an NDA alliance partner, but Khot, who has been expelled from Swabhimani Party led by Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, continues to be a minister and has also launched his own political outfit.