23 April,2024 06:13 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Narayan Rane. File Pic
Ahead of a rally of opposition leaders for Lok Sabha elections 2024, Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane has warned the opposition that if anybody used abusive language against PM Modi, the person will not be allowed to return home, reported the PTI.
Narayan Rane, the BJP candidate from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency in coastal Maharashtra, was speaking at a campaign rally in Sindhudurg district on Monday.
The coastal seat, currently represented by Vinayak Raut who is again the candidate of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), has not been contested by the BJP earlier.
Narayan Rane's son Nilesh Rane had won the seat in 2009 as the Congress candidate.
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Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his party's MP Sanjay Raut criticise PM Narendra Modi while not understanding what they are talking about, said the minister, according to the PTI.
"I learnt that opposition parties will be holding a rally in Sindhudurg soon. It is part of democracy, so they are welcome here. But if anyone uses abusive language against our leader, prime minister Narendra Modi, we will not allow that person to return from here," Narayan Rane said, as per the PTI.
Rane, the BJP leader, who left the Shiv Sena after falling out with Uddhav Thackeray in 2005, claimed that Uddhav Thackeray was never his father Bal Thackeray's choice for the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
"Had Uddhav Thackeray been his choice, Balasaheb Thackeray would have made him CM instead of me in 1999. Uddhav Thackeray is a zero-performance person," said Narayan Rane, who was chief minister for less than a year, the PTI reported.
Narayan Rane also alleged that during the coronavirus pandemic, Uddhav Thackeray, then chief minister, tried to get "15 percent commission" on vaccine procurement, and inquiry into such corruption of his government was going on, the news agency reported.
(with PTI inputs)
