Navneet Rana Challenges Maharashtra CM Thackeray To Contest Election Against Her

"I challenge Uddhav Thackeray Ji to choose a constituency and get elected directly by people," she said.

Amravati MP Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana.

(Photo: PTI)

Amravati MP Navneet Rana, on Sunday, 8 May, challenged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to contest an election against her. She also said that Lord Ram and the people of Mumbai would teach Shiv Sena a lesson in civic polls.

Navneet Rana and her husband MLA Ravi Rana were granted bail on Wednesday, 4 May, in connection with a case for threatening to recite Hanuman Chalisa with their supporters outside 'Matoshree,' the private residence of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.

Thackeray, who is also the president of the Shiv Sena, became the CM in November 2019. He took oath as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in May 2020.

Talking to reporters after being discharged from the hospital on Sunday, Navneet Rana said, "I challenge Uddhav Thackeray Ji to choose a constituency and get elected directly by people. I will fight against him."

"I will work hard with honesty and win the election, and he (the CM) will know the people's power," she said.

"What crime did I commit that I was jailed for 14 days? You can put me in jail for 14 years, but I will not stop chanting the names of Lord Ram and Hanuman. Mumbaikars and Lord Ram will teach the Shiv Sena a lesson in the civic polls," the parliamentarian said.

Navneet Rana also said she would campaign in Mumbai and support Ram bhakts to end Shiv Sena's corrupt rule. The Shiv Sena shares power with the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress in the state. Shiv Sena also controls the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

CM Thackeray's son Aaditya Thackeray was the first from the family to enter the electoral fray. The younger Thackeray had contested in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections from the Worli constituency, in which he had emerged victorious.

Background

The Rana couple had created a stir in Maharashtra after they attempted to chant Hanuman Chalisa with their supporters outside 'Matoshree,' the private residence of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.

According to Bar & Bench, bail was granted upon furnishing a bail bond of Rs 50,000 each. The couple has also been ordered not to engage with the media over the matter or commit "similar offences" in the future.

The Ranas were arrested on 23 April and were booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 34 (criminal act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code after they had announced their plan to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree. However, the Ranas had later claimed that they had called off their plans.

Navneet Rana was later admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati hospital, right after she and her husband Ravi Rana were released from Byculla prison on Thursday, 5 May. Navneet Rana had gone to the hospital for a medical check-up and was later admitted to the hospital.

(With inputs from PTI.)