Navneet Rana along with her supporters joined the BJP at the Bawankule residence in Nagpur.
Amravati:
Navneet Rana, a sitting MP from Amravati, joined the BJP in Nagpur late on Wednesday evening in the presence of the party’s state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
She joined the BJP at the Bawankule residence in Nagpur along with her supporters and in the presence of senior party leaders from Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha and other places. Her husband Ravi Rana, an MLA, was also present when she joined the BJP.
The Central Election Commission of the BJP on Wednesday announced its name as the party’s candidate for the Amravati seat. Mr Bawankule said she would file her election nomination on April 4.
Addressing a press conference around midnight at Bawankule’s residence, Navneet Rana said she has been following the development trajectory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah as a supporter of the NDA for the past five years.
Expressing her happiness over joining the BJP, Ms Rana said she would ensure that the Amravati parliamentary constituency would be among the 400 seats won by the party in the general elections.
Mr Bawankule said Navneet Rana has joined the BJP to support Prime Minister Modi’s Viksit Bharat vision. He also condemned Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray for sending Navneet Rana to jail during his tenure as Maharashtra chief minister over the Hanuman Chalisa chanting issue.
Mr Rana first contested from Amravati on an NCP ticket in 2014 and was defeated by Shiv Sena’s Anandrao Adsul. In 2019, she contested the seat as an independent backed by NCP and defeated Adsul.
However, after 2019, Rana started supporting the BJP.
Last month, the Supreme Court reserved its judgment on Navneet Rana’s plea against the Bombay High Court verdict canceling her caste certificate. On June 8, 2021, the Supreme Court said that the ‘Mochi’ caste certificate was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents. It had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the Amravati MP.
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