Ready to work in Cabinet: Rane

His shift comes after meeting with Sonia

MUMBAI: Revenue minister Narayan Rane went on the back foot, taking a decision to withdraw his resignation from the cabinet, and work under the leadership of chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Rane changed his mind after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Saturday. Shedding his aggressive posture, a mellowed Rane told Gandhi he had always accepted her leadership, and had never thought of quitting the Congress party.

However, he explained his reservations over certain policy matters, which got approval by the Deshmukh cabinet — the Rs8,000 crore Videocon project in Navi Mumbai on CIDCO land. After meeting Gandhi, Rane said, “I will attend the cabinet meeting next week.” Irritated with persistent questioning over his decision to resign, he quipped, “The media blew the crisis out of proportion.”

Chairman of the Maharashtra Congress campaign committee, Gurudas Kamat, said, “Rane was going to stay in the Congress.” Kamat had taken the lead to bridge the differences between Deshmukh and Rane. He accompanied Rane to meet Gandhi.
Earlier, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra had urged Rane not to take any hasty decisions and withdraw the resignation. Insiders in the Congress indicated that as a face saver to Rane, the central leadership may persuade Deshmukh to accommodate one Rane supporter in the state cabinet whenever a reshuffle takes place.