Rana: Declined Sunetra Pawar Offer For RS Seat

Nagpur: BJP member and former Amravati MP Navneet Rana on Tuesday claimed she declined a Rajya Sabha nomination offer from Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth, as it was conditional on joining NCP (Ajit Pawar faction). Rana added CM Devendra Fadnavis then asked her to meet Pawar and request the seat be ceded to BJP, but that offer also fell through. In a post on X, Rana said she was grateful to the Pawars for making the RS nomination offer, but it was something that had to be refused. Rana said, "Being a BJP loyalist, I could not accept condition of joining NCP to get the Rajya Sabha nomination. On CM's suggestion, I met Sunetra tai and requested the Rajya Sabha seat be given to BJP, but due to unavoidable reasons that was not possible." She added her work continues under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, and CM Fadnavis. "I will not change my ideology for any post. I will continue to work sincerely for the BJP," she said.The seat in question is the one vacated by Sunetra Pawar when she was sworn in as deputy CM in January, after the death of her husband, Ajit. Now NCP's Rajendra Jain has filed nomination papers for the seat, with support from all Mahayuti allies.On Rana's stand for not quitting BJP over a seat, revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the BJP held her in high regard. Bawankule said, "Rana is very hardworking and a Hindutvavadi, who is recognised across the country. The position she has taken is important and the right one." The Rana episode played out against the backdrop of a tug-of-war within the Mahayuti over state finance portfolio, which NCP has been pressing Fadnavis to hand over as it originally was with late Ajit Pawar. After the latter's death, CM Fadnavis has been handling the portfolio. While Sunetra Pawar was sworn in within days of Ajit's death, she was given excise, sports, minority development and Waqf portfolios, with finance and planning remaining with the CM.Bawankule played down any tussle within Mahayuti over the finance department. "Our three Mahayuti faces, Fadnavis, Eknath Shinde and Pawar, will sit and decide. We do not want to do any injustice to NCP, a right decision will certainly be taken," he said.