Rane meets Raj to offer condolences

Former Shiv Sainik and state industries minister, Narayan Rane met Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) chief, Raj Thackeray on Saturday to grant his condolences after the death of his uncle and Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

Rane, who is a MLA from the Kudal constituency in Sindhudurg district, was accompanied by younger son Nitesh, who heads the Swambhimaan Sanghatana, to Raj’s residence of ‘Krushnakunj’ at Shivaji Park in Dadar. Rane, who worked his way up in politics as a corporator in the BMC and as committee chairperson of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), later became the chief minister of Maharashtra during the erstwhile Shiv Sena- BJP dispensation. However, Rane was expelled from the Sena in 2005 after a leadership tussle with party executive president Uddhav Thackeray and later joined the Congress and became the revenue minister.

He had been a target of the Sena supremo’s acerbic attacks after the expulsion even as his men took on the Shiv Sena cadre in street battles in Mumbai. However, during Thackeray’s final illness, Rane had expressed a desire to visit the Thackeray family residence of Matoshree in Bandra to meet him. It is said that Rane is eager to visit Matoshree for condolences to Uddhav and his family.