Narayan Rane quits Chavan Cabinet

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is yet to accept his resignation. Rane had announced his decision to quit the Chavan cabinet pitching for a change of leadership there.

Addressing a meeting in Kankavali in the state on July 19, Rane had trained his guns on the Chief Minister and had said that Assembly elections results would not be different from the Lok Sabha polls if they were fought under the present leadership. Addressing his supporters in Kankavali, Rane, who had quit the Shiv Sena in 2005 to join Congress, had said he was yet to take a call on his future political course.

On Friday, Rane had also hit back at Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray for his Rane "not welcome in saffron camp" remark and asserted a "real" politician has vacancy everywhere.

It is believed that Rane decided to quit from the Chavan ministry to protest against the failure of the Congress high command to remove Chavan in the wake of the humiliating defeat of Congress in the Lok Sabha polls. Rane's decision to quit the cabinet is being viewed as a setback for the crisis-ridden Congress-NCP alliance, particularly in view of coming assembly polls.