Narayan Rane, the former chief minister of Maharashtra, has been in the BJP for just two years. The 69-year-old leader started his political career with Shiv Sena and he has held many portfolios in the Maharashtra government. From Sena, he moved to the Congress in 2005 and finally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019. This is the first time he has made it to the Union cabinet. 

Before joining the BJP, the leader from Maharashtra launched his own party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, in 2017. After declaring support for the BJP, Rane was nominated to the Rajya Sabha a year later. 

Rane started his political career in his early twenties when he became a Shakha Pramukh of Mumbai’s Chembur.  He inched his way up in the party and when Manohar Joshi stepped down as Chief Minister in 1999, Rane was handpicked by then Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray to succeed him.

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His falling out with the Shiv Sena began soon after as the party felt that he was becoming bigger than the organisation. He was finally expelled in 2005.

His next stop was the Congress, where he was quickly made the Revenue Minister. After the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, Vilasrao Deshmukh resigned and Ashok Chavan was made chief minister. Rane protested this and was faced suspension from the party.  After an apology, a suspension, and a comeback, he finally quit the party in 2017. 

After experimenting with his own outfit, he finally settled in the BJP. In 2019, BJP gave a ticket to his son Nitesh from Konkan. Rane got nominated to Rajya Sabha.

Rane, who also owns a newspaper, is married to Neelam Rane and has two sons, Nitesh and Nilesh.