Rane factor on the wane

Narayan Rane may have given the Congress an edge over the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), after the 2004 assembly elections, by increasing its strength of elected MLAs. But, when it came to taking on the might of his former party — the Shiv Sena — Rane’s game plan, to engineer victory for 33 of his old party loyalists in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, on a Congress platform failed to cut much ice. Only a handful of men propped up by Rane were successful.

These include Jyotsna Dighe from Andheri, three corporators from Naigaon — Priscilla Kadam, Sunil More and Shakuntala Mane — Vithal Lokre from Chembur and Shashikant Patil and Suresh Golatkar.

Staunch Rane loyalists like Bhaskar Vichare, Prakah Parab, Rajesh Hatle, Neelam Dolas, Suvarna Karanje, Satish Adhikari, Hareshwar Patil and Laxman Parad ended up losers to candidates, some from their erstwhile party. What would concern the Revenue Minister even more are the margins his candidates lost by.

For instance in Bhandup, Vichare considered a heavyweight, lost by 4,000-odd votes to his former protégé and incumbent, Shiv Sena councillor Ramesh Korgaonkar in ward no 107. The loss was equally bitter for Satish Adhikari, who lost out to Shiv Sena’s Suresh Shinde by a thumping margin. “The mandate is clear. Voters have chosen Sena over Rane.

The leader, whatever he is today, is because of the party,” said a Sena councillor, who did not wish to be named. The situation could best be summed with the result in Rane’s own backyard, where Shiv Sena’s Prakash Partheprekar edged out incumbent councillor Neelam Dolas.