Will take Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray 'head on' if he contests election: Nitesh Rane

MUMBAI: Nitesh Rane, son of senior Congress leader and Maharashtra state Industries Minister Narayan Rane, said he will take Shiv Sena President "head on" if Uddhav Thackeray decides to contest the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra.

"If Uddhav ( Sena Chief) decides to contest the upcoming Assembly polls, I will take him head on and contest from whichever constituency he decides to contest from. Not only that, I will ensure that he loses badly," Rane said.

He was addressing reporters in Kolhapur yesterday on the sidelines of a function.

Mocking Thackeray, Rane said that it was "amusing" that he (Thackeray) dreams of becoming the chief minister of the state when he does not have a hold in any assembly segment.

"Uddhav dreams of becoming the CM of Maharashtra. This dream of his is laughable. He is not even fit to become a sarpanch (the head of a village). Tomorrow even Rakhi Sawant ( Bollywood actress who recently joined RPI) will dream of becoming the CM," he said.

He added that his father (Narayan Rane) had asked him to prepare to contest elections from Kankavali assembly segment and and establish contacts in the region.

"Narayan Rane has asked me to prepare for election from Kankavali assembly seat. We have started the ground work there. During the Loksabha elections we lost, but I can assure you results will be very different this time," he said.

When asked to comment on Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan's comment that the kin of Congress leaders will get tickets to contest elections only based on merit, Rane said, comments made by Chavan were directed elsewhere.

"He (Chavan) was not hinting at me. Praniti Shinde (daughter of Former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde) and Amit Deshmukh (son of Former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh) are already sitting MLAs. Rahul, son of MPCC president Manikrao Thakre, also wants to contest elections. So it shows that Chavan was not pointing towards me," he said.