Narayan Rane on his 'tight slap' remark: "I had no intention of denouncing, embarrassing, or spreading hate against Uddhav Thackeray"

Union minister Narayan Rane declared on Tuesday that he did not want to defame, humiliate, or foment hatred against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, as reported by India Today, months after the scandal surrounding his "tight slap" statement and subsequent imprisonment.

 

Narayan Rane, a Union Minister, stirred a controversy with his comments about slapping Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for what he believed was the latter's ignorance of India's independence year. Shiv Sena workers reacted angrily to Rane's words, putting up posters in Mumbai and other cities labelling him a 'kombdi chor' (chicken thief), a reference to the poultry shop he ran in Chembur during his first tenure with the Bal Thackeray-led party five decades ago.

 

In the late 1960s, Rane began his political career in Mumbai with the son-of-the-soil party founded by Bal Thackeray.  Rane split from the Shiv Sena in 2005 due to irreconcilable disputes with the Thackerays. He joined the Congress after leaving the Sena and was appointed state revenue minister. He resigned from Congress in 2017, claiming that he had enlisted on the promise of being appointed to the state's top office within six months.

 

With his two sons Nilesh and Nitesh as important generals, he created the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, which he eventually united with the BJP. Rane's opponents have accused him of involvement in various violent episodes, including the murder of a Sena worker and other crimes in Konkan's Sindhudurg area.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @MeNarayanRane