Ratnagiri: The Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency has grabbed everyone's attention. Union Minister Narayan Rane is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from this seat. All eyes are on whether Vinayak Raut, who defeated Rane's son twice and became an MP, defeats Narayan Rane or takes revenge on Narayan Rane.
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Sindhudurg will go to polls on May 7. This leaves very few days for campaigning. Even before the campaign comes to a halt, the Thackeray brothers will hold rallies against each other to heat up the political atmosphere there. Uddhav Thackeray will hold a rally for Vinayak Raut of the Uddhav Thackeray group. On the other hand, Raj Thackeray will address Narayan Rane's campaign rally to counter Uddhav Thackeray. The two will hold one such meeting after another.
Uddhav Thackeray's rally is scheduled for May 3 and Raj's rally is scheduled for May 4. Uddhav Thackeray's rally was already scheduled. After Raj's support, Rane has scheduled Raj's rally on May 4 at another ground in Kankavli. Uddhav Thackeray's rally will be held tomorrow, Friday at 6 pm in the ground in front of Kankavli Upazila Hospital. MLA Vaibhav Naik, former mayor Sandesh Parkar and others visited the venue.
Raj Thackeray's rally will be held at Nagar Panchayat ground on Saturday. MNS leader Avinash Jadhav visited the venue. Given the scope of Raj Thackeray's rallies, this ground is likely to be inadequate. Now it will be interesting to see whether MNS workers come to this meeting or it will be just Rane supporters. It will also be interesting to see whether Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray address each other in their speeches.
Importantly, Raj Thackeray had never taken such an open stand against Uddhav Thackeray for Narayan Rane before. When Narayan Rane left the Shiv Sena, Raj too had to face a lot of opposition in Sindhudurg. Rane's supporters had blocked his vehicles. Raj was eventually forced to withdraw. Even when Raj parted ways with the Shiv Sena, Raj never campaigned for Rane even though the party was different. But now he will hold a rally for Rane.