Dispute between Bachchu Kadu, Ravi Rana will be sorted: Eknath Shinde

Amid a war of words, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the dispute between Amravati legislators - Bachchu Kadu and Ravi Rana - would be sorted out.

“We all know both of them are from Amravati…there are local issues, we will sort it out,” Shinde told media persons during an informal chat on Sunday night.

Kadu (52) and Rana (36) are in touch with Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and have been called to Mumbai. Both Kadu and Rana support the Shinde-Fadnavis government.

Read | War-of-words between Amravati MLAs Bachchu Kadu, Ravi Rana reach Shinde, Fadnavis's ears

Kadu, the founder of the Prahar Janshakti Party (PJP), is a four-time MLA from Achalpur. While in 2004, 2009 and 2014, he was an Independent, in 2019, he was elected under the banner of Prahar. Incidentally, Kadu was a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. However, in June, he was among the first to switch allegiance to Shinde.

Rana, the founder of Yuva Swabhiman Party (YSP), is a three-time MLA from Bandera for three terms - 2009, 2014 and 2019. Rana and his wife, Navneet Kaur Rana, who is an MP from Amravati, had protested against Thackeray and threatened to sing Hanuman-Chalisa outside his residence, following which they were arrested.

Over the past few weeks, the war of words between the two MLAs from the Vidarbha region has intensified.

Rana has accused Kadu of taking “pannas khokhe” (50 boxes) to go to Guwahati with Shinde, who split the Shiv Sena in one of the biggest political rebellions in the state. On the other hand, Kadu had challenged Rana to justify his allegations by November 1, or “face the consequences” as seven to eight MLAs too called him to express support.