Narayan Rane
Starting his political career as a local Shakha Pramukh in Mumbai, Narayan Rane climbed the ladder to become the Maharashtra chief minister and then leader of the Opposition. The 72-year-old Rane, currently the Union minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Narendra Modi government, is BJP’s candidate from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in the coastal Konkan belt of the west Indian state. His journey of over five decades in politics has been eventful. Inspired by Bal Thackeray, he joined the Shiv Sena and became a corporator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. When the Sena-BJP government came to power in Maharashtra under Dr Manohar Joshi, he became a minister. However, when Joshi resigned, he took over. In 2005, because of differences with Uddhav Thackeray, then Shiv Sena executive president, Rane was expelled by the Senior Thackeray. Rane later joined the Congress. However, his dream of becoming the CM or the Maharashtra Congress president never came true and he left the party in 2017. Rane floated Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha which was later merged with the BJP, and he became a Rajya Sabha member. He now leads BJP’s charge in the bastion of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Vinayak Raut
Having started his political career under Bal Thackeray, Vinayak Raut started off as a corporator of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and went on to become an MP. Originally from Mumbai, Raut was previously elected as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Vile Parle of Mumbai for 1999-2004 as a Shiv Sena candidate. He was also elected as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council through the Shiv Sena in 2012. When Narayan Rane and his family moved into the Congress, Raut contested Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg against Nitesh Rane, the Konkan strongman’s son, and defeated him. The 70-year-old Raut defeated Nitesh Rane again when the latter left the Congress and his father floated the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha (MSP). This time, Rane’s son was keen to contest, however, the BJP high command did not give another term to Senior Rane in the Rajya Sabha and instead asked him to contest the seat of the coastal Konkan belt. Traditionally, it is a Shiv Sena stronghold. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena had many ticket claimants, but the seat was allocated to the BJP. Raut is among the top five confidantes of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.
