Rane, who had started out as a ‘Shakha Pramukh’ in the Shiv Sena, rose up the ranks to become the chief minister of the state in 1999. A close confidante of Balasaheb Thackeray, Rane never accepted Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership, he engineered a coup against him. Thackeray expelled him from the party in 2005 for “anti-party activities” and Rane moved to the Congress. He stayed in the Congress for 12 years, waiting for what he claimed was the promised chief ministership. When that did not happen, he quit the Congress in 2017 to start his own party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha (MSP). In 2018, the BJP sent him to Rajya Sabha after he declared support to the party. He officially joined the party before the Assembly polls in 2019.