Narayan Rane joins Congress

Ending days of speculation over his political future, former Shiv Sena leader Narayan Rane today joined the Congress in the presence of Sonia Gandhi.

The move severed his ties with a two-decade association with the Shiv Sena and will alter political equations significantly in Maharashtra "" both for the Shiv Sena and the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance.

Rane left Sena in reaction to the supremacy of Uddhav Thackeray, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's son, in itself a radical development in a political party where personalities have a bigger role than the forces they control. But the question now is how the Shiv Sena will recover ground in Konkan, a region where Rane had - and continues to have - considerable clout.

All the panchayat level heads in the region owe their allegiance to Rane, even though a few weeks ago, many of them attended a meeting called by Balasaheb Thackeray to which Rane was not invited.

This meeting was the beginning of active efforts by Rane to look for political alternatives for himself. As Rane is now out of the equation, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will also find the going tough in Konkan.

Suresh Prabhu, former water resources minister whose constituency, Rajapur, falls within Rane's area of influence, will have to work harder to keep his base intact.

In the Congress too, some recalibration wil occur in Konkan as well as Mumbai to make space for a leader the stature of Rane. It remains to be seen how many MLAs will stand by with Rane and go so far as to quit their seats to join the Congress along with him.

At last count, only nine MLAs came out in his support though he claimed he had the silent support of many more. Whatever the number, Rane's defection is a definite setback for the Shiv Sena, in many ways a bigger blow than Chhagan Bhujbal's defection several years ago.