Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP's decision to field Navneet Rana from Amravati ruffles feathers in Mahayuti

Navneet Rana joined BJP/ PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to bring independent MP Navneet Rana into the party fold and nominate her as the candidate for the Amravati constituency for Lok Sabha Elections 2024 has sparked criticism from some allies in Maharashtra. Some ruling constituents have characterised the move as a "downfall of democracy" and "political suicide".

According to a report in PTI, Rana, the incumbent Amravati Lok Sabha representative, officially joined the BJP late Wednesday at the residence of the party's state unit president, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, in Nagpur ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Following her admission, the BJP's Central Election Committee announced her candidature for the Amravati seat, with Bawankule promising to file her nomination on April 4.

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However, the action has sparked condemnation not just from the opposition Congress, but also from independent MLA Bacchu Kadu, a ruling coalition ally, and former MP Anandrao Adsul, who is affiliated with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, the report added.

Kadu decried Rana's candidacy as a "downfall of democracy" and highlighted the need for her rejection, while Adsul viewed the choice as the "political suicide" of the Mahayuti alliance. Adsul even declared his intention to run against Rana independently, regardless of his party's support.

The PTI report quoted Kadu as saying, "Rana's candidature indicates the downfall of democracy. 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?"

Responding to a query whether his party would contest Lok Sabha Elections 2024, he remarked, "We will support a better candidate in this election, and you will see our decisive role in that candidate's victory. We will not support her (Rana's) candidature, who practises authoritarianism in the constituency."

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena's Adsul reacting strongly, said, "I will contest against her for sure. If my party (Shiv Sena) does not support me, I can challenge her as an independent candidate. Fielding her on a BJP ticket when everyone is against her is a political suicide. I am not going to campaign for her. There is no question of supporting her in any way."

Rana won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate, defeating then-Shiv Sena MP Adsul from the Amravati constituency. However, controversy developed when suspicions appeared that she had submitted a bogus caste certificate. In June 2021, the Bombay High Court found her caste certificate unlawfully obtained and fined her, the PTI report stated and it added that despite ongoing legal actions, Rana being nominated has sparked opposition among governing allies.

The Congress has chosen Balwant Wankhede, a current MLA, as their candidate for the Amravati Lok Sabha constituency.

Rana responded to the opposition by expressing her adherence to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request for over 400 seats and urging National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituents to unite in favour of her candidature, stated the PTI report.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a call for winning more than 400 seats. I want the Amravati constituency to be one of them," she said and reacting to opposition to her candidature, she added, "They are very senior to me. I wish all the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) remain united and support my candidature. I need the support of people for the development of this area."

Rana began her career as a Telugu cinema performer before entering politics, running for Lok Sabha on the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) ticket in 2014. She won as an independent candidate in 2019, defeating Adsul.

A political analyst cited a diverted vote share from the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) as a factor in Rana's victory in 2019, as well as her caste certificate and public demonstration controversies.

"Rana could win the seat because the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate received 65,135 votes. Adsul got 4,67,212 votes in 2014 and 4,73,996 in 2019. It means some of the votes which could have gone to him got diverted to the VBA, paving the way for Rana's maiden victory," the analyst stated, per the PTI report.

Apart from the caste certificate row, Rana kicked up another controversy in May 2022 when she and her husband tried to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside then Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray's residence in Mumbai.