MUMBAI: In a major political development, the Congress High Command revoked yesterday the suspension of dissident Congress leader Narayan Rane, according to information reaching the Maharashtra State Congress Committee (MPCC) in Mumbai.
According to Congress sources, the order of revoking immediately Rane’s suspension was announced after he met the Congress party President Sonia Gandhi and submitted an apology letter to her.
Rane, the sources said, had put forthwith some demands like giving him a prominent Cabinet berth in the Maharashtra ministry, party ticket to his son Nilesh for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, appointment of some of his supporters to various government undertakings. These demands were turned down by the Congress.
Soon after the removal of Vilasrao Deshmukh as chief minister of the state and appointment of Ashok Chavan as the new chief minister in December 2008, Rane had launched a blistering attack on the Congress and did not even spare Sonia Gandhi, after being ignored for the chief minister’s post.
Following Rane’s criticism of the party president and the party, the Congress suspended him from the party. Rane later forged close relations with the new Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and also came closer to Defense Minister A.K. Antony who is also the party in charge for Maharashtra. Rane approached several senior Congress leaders through Antony and finally, his suspension was yesterday revoked with immediate effect.
In between, Congress leaders had taken a decision to revoke the suspension of Rane unanimously. There were talks that Rane was being summoned to Delhi and there was big celebrations by his supporters in Sindhudurg district in Konkan region.
It took nearly three long months for the Congress to take a decision to revoke Rane’s suspension after he had launched attack and criticized senior Congress leaders.
Rane, after realizing how big a price he would have to pay, calmed down and declared that he would remain in the Congress, but the Congress High Command, offended and hurt by Rane’s criticism, prolonged the decision to revoke his suspension, in order to teach him a lesson.
