Rane coup: Mohite quits Sena

This coup has been masterminded by Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, who is desperate to retrieve his position within the Congress, which has taken a beating after a dismal show on the BMC polls. But unlike previous occasions when he used to be on the forefront to claim credit for engineering defections from the Sena, Rane has chosen to stay in the background this time.

Apart from bringing down the Sena strength in the Lok Sabha from 12 to 11, Mohite’s exit is a sure loss for the Sena in Vidarbha region, a traditional Congress stronghold. He may also wean away some Sena corporators in Nagpur, where the BJP-Shiv Sena combine has won a majority.

Mohite’s resignation has been in the air for months. He, along with three other Lok Sabha members, were known to be in touch with the Congress through Rane. It is not clear if the rest of the pack, including a former Union minister, would follow suit.

However, the rebel leader was all praise for Bal Thackeray. “He has a vision and a sense of direction,” he said. But, he mounted a blistering attack on Uddhav, alleging him of “political assassination”. “He is no tiger,” he said, adding “and I am not the one he can finish.” Uddhav, according to him, is “insecure”, has “no vision” and lacked “faith in party workers”.

Mohite also accused Uddhav of “humiliating” him during the recent BMC polls. He recalled that he had been handed B-forms for allotment of Sena tickets to people in his constituency in the recent civic polls. However, Uddhav cancelled them and gave tickets to people afresh. Senior party leader Ramdas Kadam came to his area to address a public meeting, but he did not even take note of his presence. Later, when he went to meet Uddhav at Matoshri along with local leaders from Ramtek, the latter did not even grant him an audience. “If this is the treatment he gives to a two-term MP, one can imagine the plight of an ordinary Shiv Sainik.”

Sena general secretary Sanjay Raut termed Mohite’s exit “unfortunate”, but claimed that he had left purely for “personal reasons”. He said Mohite wanted three-term local party MLA Asheesh Jaiswal to be expelled from the party because he did not get along with him and also demanded the post of deputy mayor for one of his supporters in Nagpur.