Mumbai, Jul 7: Having spent the better part of his political career in the Shiv Sena, Narayan Rane has come a long way, leaving two parties and forming his own outfit for a while, before joining hands with the BJP and becoming a Union minister.

Rane (69) began his political career as a 'shakha pramukh' (local ward chief) in the Sena and rose up the ranks to become chief minister at the fag end of the Shiv Sena-BJP government's term in 1999.

Not known to mince words, the Maratha leader having pockets of influence in the coastal Konkan region, was picked by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray as chief minister when he decided to remove the genial Manohar Joshi ahead of the 1999 assembly elections. Modi Cabinet Reshuffle: Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia Among Others Take Oath as New Ministers in Union Cabinet (Watch Live).

Thackeray, however, expelled Rane from the Sena in July 2005 for "anti-party activities" after he alleged that tickets and posts were for sale in the Shiv Sena.

Rane joined the Congress in August 2005 and quit it in September 2017. "I waited for 12 years. When I found that there was no scope for me in the Congress, I decided to quit from the primary membership of the party and membership of the legislative council," he had said in his rant against the party over "injustice" done to him and his supporters.

Rane then said he had joined the Congress because he was assured that he will be made chief minister in six months.

After quitting the Congress, Rane launched the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha in October 2017. In 2018, he declared support for BJP and was elected to the Rajya Sabha on that party's nomination. In October 2019, he merged his party with the BJP.

Over the years, Rane's political rivals have been linking him to several incidents of violence, claiming his involvement in the murder of Shiv Sena worker Shridhar Naik and some other crimes in his Sindhudurg region of Konkan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)