NCP conspired to defeat Congress candidates: Narayan Rane

MUMBAI: Still smarting under the defeat of his son and sitting MP Nilesh Rane, Maharashtra Industries Minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane today accused that the ally NCP conspired against Congress candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.

Talking to reporters after a review meeting of Maharashtra Congress here, Rane said, "In some places, NCP did not cooperate with Congress and in some other places it hatched conspiracies to defeat the Congress candidates."

"I am aggrieved, because despite the good work done by Nilesh, he lost from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat," Rane said, adding that his grievances had not been addressed by the party yet. Sawantwadi MLA and NCP leader Deepak Kesarkar and the Sindhdurg NCP unit had openly defied the party diktat and worked against Nilesh Rane during the campaign.

To a question, Rane said Sindhudurg Congress unit passed the resolution seeking hand-over of Congress leadership in the state to him without his knowledge. "I have nothing to do with it," he said. When asked about the demand from some quarters that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakare should quit following the electoral debacle, Rane said he would make his stand clear after a week. "I will meet party workers and discuss the issue," he said.