Telugu film actress Navneet Rana, who is a sitting independent MP, will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections as a BJP candidate from Amravati. She will take on Congress candidate Balwant Wankhede who is the sitting Daryapur MLA.
Rana’s candidature was not free from controversy, what with the Amravati BJP unit itself opposing it. The Supreme Court on April 1 will hear Navneet Rana’s appeal against a Bombay high court order which had set aside her caste certificate. The HC cancelled her caste certificate and the Caste Scrutiny Committee’s 2017 order validating her claim of belonging to the Mochi Scheduled Caste.
Navneet shot to fame when she and her husband, MLA Ravi Rana, declared that they would chant the Hanuman Chalisa in front of Matoshree, the residence of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray while he was the chief minister of Maharashtra. The Bombay Municipal Corporation went on to serve the couple a demolition notice for unauthorised construction at their flat at Khar in Bombay. The couple thereafter held numerous events targeting Uddhav Thackeray for his “anti-Hindutva” stance.