Amravati: In Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, the fight for the Amravati Lok Sabha seat is turning out to be a tough battle for Independent and sitting MP Navneet Kaur Rana, who is now seeking re-election on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.
Rana appears to be steadily isolated with the Mahayuti alliance partners expressing displeasure over her candidature. Prahar Janshakti Party chief Bacchu Kadu, who exited the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition to support Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction, has fielded his candidate in Amravati to contest against Rana and MVA’s Balwant Wankhede.
For a long time, Abhijit Adsul, leader of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) was miffed about not getting the ticket. Abhijit and his father Anandrao Adsul had openly said that they would not support Rana. Meanwhile, NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Sanjay Khodke had publicly asked Rana to not use his picture in her banners.
But Rana is undeterred. In an interview to ThePrint, she said that her work as an MP, coupled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, will help her sail through.
“The Centre has supported me well. Also, my personal ideology is similar to that of the BJP. Lotus did not previously get a chance in Amravati because this seat was always with the alliance partner. So, I decided to represent them because the people wished to see the Lotus bloom in Amravati. And, now we have half of Sena and half of NCP’s energies with us, so I don’t think there is any issue,” she said.
On having to fight against Dinesh Bub, the candidate fielded by Bachhu Kadu, a member of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, Rana alleged that Kadu is working at the behest of Congress and this might ultimately divide the votes, benefitting the Congress and MVA.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kadu said that he was not happy with Rana getting the BJP ticket and that Bub is a stronger candidate. “When we did our surveys and discussion, we found out that our candidate is way stronger than her. I am confident that he will win,” he added.
However, a source close to Kadu told ThePrint that for the last five years, Amravati MP Navneet Rana has had frosty relations with several local leaders. The source went on to say that she has often been surrounded by controversies, which is why they decided not to support her and instead, announced their own candidate.
Meanwhile, the Congress’s campaign is relying on the ‘son of soil versus outsider’ argument.
“In Amravati, she is alone. It is an Amravatikar against Rana. Everyone is against her, including her allies. This will reflect in the election result,” said Yashomati Thakur, Congress MLA from Amravati to ThePrint. But Rana has rubbished this claim. She said that since her marriage in 2011, Amravati has been her home.
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Rana’s alienation from the Mahayuti alliance
The Amravati Lok Sabha constituency in Vidarbha is reserved for Scheduled Castes. Of the six assembly constituencies in Amravati, one is currently held by independent MLA and Navneet Rana’s husband, Ravi Rana, three by Congress MLAs, including Balwant Wankhede, who is now contesting the Lok Sabha election, and Sulbha Khodke, wife of NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Sanjay Khodke. The other two are held by Prahar Janshakti leaders, including Bacchu Kadu.
Navneet Rana fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on an NCP ticket, but she lost to Shiv Sena’s Anandrao Adsul. In 2019, Rana fought independently albeit with the support of the NCP-Congress alliance, and managed to defeat Adsul by over 37,000 votes.
“It was just support. I was very much certain that I would not side with any particular symbol in 2019, and they knew,” she said.
However, Rana bagging the BJP ticket has not gone down well with the Adsul family. After Shiv Sena (Shinde) and BJP formed an alliance in the state in 2022, Adsul was hoping to get a ticket for his son, Abhijit, for this election. Sena was rallying for Adsul within the alliance, but Rana joined the BJP on 28 March, when she was declared Mahayuti’s candidate.
Adsul and his son have since refrained from campaigning for her. Speaking to local media, he said, “The Rana couple are ignorant. There is an imaginary wave about them, but in reality that is not the case. People call them Bunty-Babli for a reason.”
ThePrint reached out to Anandrao Adsul for a comment, but he has not responded.
On Wednesday, however, the Ranas met with Abhijit in an attempt to call a truce. Abhijit later told the media, “We have still not made a decision. We will sit with our workers and decide. Our ultimate motto is to win 400 plus seats for Modi ji.”
Ravi Rana also seemed hopeful of a positive outcome. “We are all part of the alliance, and I hope we will come together to help PM Modi win again,” he said.
But, Navneet Rana’s troubles do not end here. Kadu is still firm on going ahead with his candidate.
“Prahar Janshakti Party is an independent party. In Maharashtra, they have supported Congress on 11 seats. Kadu is indirectly supporting Congress. He is, in a way, out of Mahayuti,” Rana said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kadu responded, “Only BJP’s central leadership can decided whether I am a part of Mahayuti or not. Nobody from BJP has said anything to me yet.”
When Rana was given the candidature, Bacchu Kadu had described it as the “downfall of democracy”. He had said, “She has to be defeated. Her husband had ransacked the local BJP office in the past. He had even ridiculed the district guardian minister of Amravati. What can be more unfortunate for the party supporters than to campaign for her?”
Another BJP ally, NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader Sanjay Khodke, is upset about Rana’s candidature. “My opposition to her is not new. I had even opposed her back when she fought with NCP’s support. But, that doesn’t mean I am going out and sabotaging her campaign,” Khodke told ThePrint.
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A ‘controversial’ figure
In 2014, Rana contested on an NCP ticket but soon after the state polls, she and her husband switched sides to support BJP. In 2019, however, she fought independently with the support of NCP-Congress. And then again, post her 2019 election victory, the couple sided with the BJP.
In May 2022, she and her husband tried to chant the Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree, residence of then Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. They were arrested by the Mumbai police on charges of sedition amongst others.
In March 2021, Navneet wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, complaining against Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, alleging that he threatened her for raising an issue concerning the now-dismissed policeman Sachin Waze. According to her, Sawant allegedly said, “Tu Maharashtra main kaise ghoomti hain main dekhta hun aur tere ko bhi jail mein dalenge (I won’t let you roam freely in Maharashtra, we will put you in jail).”
On 8 June 2021, the Bombay High Court had imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the Amravati MP, saying that the ‘Mochi’ caste certificate was obtained by her fraudulently using fabricated documents, and that records showed that she belonged to the ‘Sikh-Chamar’ caste. However, on 4 April, the last day of filling nominations for the Lok Sabha seat, the Supreme Court restored Rana’s caste certificate by setting aside the High Court verdict.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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