Narayan Rane loses by 9,000 votes

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane lost from Kudal assembly constituency. He was defeated by Shiv Sena's Vaibhav Naik by more than 9,000 votes. The Konkan strongman had expressed his reservations to the Congress high command about Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's attitude towards the elections. He had led the faction that opposed contesting the elections under Chavan's leadership.He had predicted that Congress would lose elections if they contest under Chavan's leadership.

 He resigned on this issue from Congress. However, he took back his resignation after being pacified by the Congress leadership. The BJP asserted Sunday that it was confident of forming a government in Maharashtra -- for the first time. "We will get the required majority" in the 288-member assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and possible chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told the media. "We will form the government."