Independent MP to lodge police complaint against Sena colleague over threat

Navneet Rana, the independent MP from Maharashtra's Amravati, was quoted by news agency ANI as saying she would lodge a police complaint against Arvind Sawant, a Shiv Sena MP.

Navneet Rana, an actor-turned-politician, had won from Amravati in the 2019 Lok Sabha election with the support of the Congress and NCP. She had defeated Anand Adsul, the Shiv Sena MP who had won in 2014. In 2014, Navneet Rana had lost against Adsul as she fought on an NCP ticket.

Navneet Rana had on Monday wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla accusing Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant of threatening her after she raised the Sachin Vaze issue in the House.

"I have written a letter to Om Birla. I will also complain about it to the police... I am not going to stop here, not by threats of someone. I will fight until I live," the independent MP from Amaravati told ANI on Monday.

After she raised the issue, Sawant threatened her in the Lok Sabha's lobby, saying "I will see how you roam in Maharashtra," Rana alleged. The former Union minister also threatened that she will be put in jail, she claimed.

Navneet Rana also said that she had in the past received death and acid attack threats on the Shiv Sena's letterhead and also over phone.

"The way Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant has threatened me, it is not only my insult, but the insult of all the women of the country. Hence, I demand strict action against Sawant," Navneet Rana had said.

Sawant denied the allegation. "Why will I threaten her? If there were people present near her at that time, then, they can tell if I threatened her. Her way of talking and body language is wrong,” Sawant was quoted by The Economic Times as saying.

Navneet Rana claimed that Uddhav Thackeray had spoken to then Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking reinstatement of Vaze who was under suspension following the Khwaja Yunus custodial death case.

"The then chief minister flatly refused. But when the current chief minister (Thackeray) took charge, the first decision he took was to reinstate Vaze. Because of the chief minister, such things are happening in Maharashtra," she said.

Navneet Rana's husband, Ravi Rana, an independent MLA, had pledged support to the BJP in the aftermath of the inconclusive Assembly election result in late 2019.