Film star- turned politician Amravati MP Navneet Rana is known for frequently attracting media attention for wrong reasons. Presently contesting as BJP candidate, she has given `ammunition to the opposition politically polarised Maharashtra stating there is no `Modi wave’.
Though her comments makes BJP and its allies Shiv Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) pushed into defence, her political rivals Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) comes to her rescue stating she was speaking the truth which is evident in the desperation shown by the BJP is welcoming Opposition leaders into its fold.
Rana, who won as an independent in the 2019 elections only last week joined BJP and on the same day she was declared as the party’s candidate from the same seat. She said that there is’No Modi Wave’ while addressing a rally in her Amravati constituency on Monday.
The media was not allowed at the meeting but the video of her making the statement has now gone viral. “We will have to fight this election as if it were a gram panchayat election. We will have to bring all the voters to the booth by 12 noon and tell them to vote. Don’t remain under the illusion that there is a Modi wave,” Rana said.
For good measure, she added, “In the last elections, despite a Modi wave, I was elected as an Independent candidate”. She had won the Amravati seat as an Independent candidate supported by the undivided NCP in 2019.
The Opposition NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) were quick to pounce on her statement. Reacting to her claim, NCP (SP) chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “Whatever Rana has spoken is just the fact. She knows it and the BJP MPs know it. The BJP itself knows there is no Modi wave”.
“ And this is reflected in the way the party had gone all-out roping in one Opposition leader after the other. It has imported even those leaders whom it had accused of corruption. It had no alternative because it saw in those leaders the potential to win elections,” he added.
Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson, said, “Forget about the Modi wave. Whether Modi will be able to win his seat is the big question”. “Our party chief Uddhav Thackeray has already said the BJP will get only 45 seats all over the country and Maha Vikas Aghadi will win all 48 seats in Maharashtra. Even the BJP’s own candidates are already speaking the truth and that too openly and loud and clear,” he added.
