'My opponents are like braying asses'

'Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make.'
'It was never for me to ask or for them to give.'

Navneet Kaur Rana, a Telugu, Malayalam, Punjabi and Bollywood actor, shot into the political limelight in 2019 when she defeated the then undivided Shiv Sena's five-term Lok Sabha MP Anandrao Adsul from Amravati.

While she had contested unsuccessfully against Adsul in 2014 as an NCP candidate, Rana -- who married Ravi Rana, an independent MLA from Maharashtra's Badnera, in 2011 -- turned the tables on Adsul in 2019 when she won the Amravati Lok Sabha seat with tacit help from the NCP.

Navneet Kaur Rana, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been nominated as the party's candidate from Amravati to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election, has angered Adsul, who is now with Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Bachchu Kadu, another independent MLA from Amravati's Achalpur, who is also in the Shinde camp. Nevertheless, she is gung ho about her re-election bid supported as she is now by India's richest political party.

In a multi-cornered contest, Rana will take on the Congress's Balwant Wankhede, the Prahar Janshakti Party's Dinesh Bub, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Prajakta Pillewan and the latest entrant in the ring, Dr B R Ambedkar's grandson Anandraj Ambedkar of the Republican Sena.

"The prime minister believes that it is only grassroots workers like me who can strengthen democratic values in rural areas and perhaps that seems to have worked for me," Navneet Kaur Rana tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com.

You won the Amravati Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate by defeating the undivided Shiv Sena's Anandrao Adsul in 2019 when the Narendra Modi wave had swept India. What made BJP choose you as your candidate from Amravati this time?

A sincere grassroots organiser like me doesn't need any reason to get noticed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to power from the grassroots. He too was the BJP's grassroots worker. Given this fact, I am sure he understands how hard and sincerely grassroots leaders work for their constituencies.

Despite getting elected as an Independent candidate, I did not disconnect myself from my constituents for five years. Despite limited resources my constituents have seen how I have participated during debates on important bills in Parliament, and how I have helped attract big development and infrastructure projects for Amravati. They have also seen how I followed up on all these projects for their successful implementation on the ground.

As an MP, my track record has been clean and my work has spoken for me.

I believe that only somebody who has worked at the grassroots level can appreciate the potential of a grassroots worker like me. The prime minister believes that it is only grassroots workers like me who can strengthen democratic values in rural areas and perhaps that seems to have worked for me.

Also, the ideology what I follow was never far from that of the BJP.

Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make. It was never for me to ask or for them to give.

I always made sure that I obey my leaders and follow their command. They have asked me to contest from Amravati so as a disciplined grassroots worker it is my duty to do so and I have pushed myself headlong into the battle.

What is your re-election pitch to your constituents in Amravati?

I am showcasing my development track record as an MP for five years is the USP of my re-election pitch. I have brought development projects worth Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) for the people of Amravati.

Be it the development of Amravati airport or the textiles park here, I have played my bit for bringing these projects to Amravati. Almost 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh (250,000 to 300,000) people will be getting employment in the proposed textiles park in the region which is spread over 1020 acres.

This is one of my biggest achievements made possible only because of the magnanimity of Prime Minister Modi who knows the importance of upliftment of the tribals.

Since the last 75 years, six major road works were pending in Amravati's tribal areas. They had not got permission from the central government before, but due to my efforts we have now got the central government's permission for these six roads and the work has already started. This will be a huge relief for those in tribal areas connect with the towns and cities across Maharashtra.

For the last 75 years there were more than 24 villages which were not connected to the main electricity grid. 12 villages were connected to this grid between 2019 and 2024 and eight more villages will soon be connected to the main grid.

Before I became an MP the narrow gauge Shakuntala Railway Line (which runs between Yavatmal and Achalpur, a distance of almost 200 km, and helps in transport of cotton from this cotton-rich belt) had almost become defunct.

The main task was to get it running and now because of my efforts and the help of the Modi government soil testing work has started to convert it into a broad gauge line.

This is among the other biggest achievement of my five year tenure as an MP from Amravati.

But leaders from the three-party Mahayuti like former MP Anandrao Adsul, who you defeated from Amravati in 2019, and Bachchu Kadu are openly campaigning against you.
In fact, the Prahar has fielded its own candidate Dinesh Bub against you.
Wouldn't such an open rebellion by BJP's alliance partners dent your chances to win a re-election?

These leaders are part of the Mahayuti alliance. They are not from the BJP. These leaders should not directly talk to me. Instead they would be well served if they discuss this with my party, the BJP.

When they are part of an alliance then they (Adsul and Kadu) should ask their leaders (Chief Minister Eknath Shinde) about it (why the BJP chose me as their contestant from Amravati).

I believe in the decision taken by my leaders, I bowed to their decision. I have hit the campaign trail and my only aim now is to defeat whoever my opponent is and win Amravati to help Prime Minister Modi achieve his dream of 400 plus seats in this election.

Gadhon ki pehchan toh hoti nahi hai; daudne wale ghodon ki ho jati hai (my opponents are like braying asses and they will be ignored; I am like a workhorse whose true potential has been appreciated by Modi and the top BJP leadership).

But wouldn't such dissidence, just a month before voting, send a wrong signal to supporters of the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Mahayuti alliance?

The day I got married 12 years ago and became the daughter-in-law of Amravati -- in fact, the people in the tribal areas treat me as their daughter -- I started working for the welfare of the 2,300 villages in my constituency.

There are six Vidhan Sabha constituencies that make up the Amravati Lok Sabha seat and be it any festival like Navratra, Ganpati, Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, or be it any motivational function or programme for the youth here, I have ensured to celebrate it with my people.

I have been there for them through the thick and thin; I have brought so many infrastructure and development projects in the area that almost every single person here knows about my work.

Let those who want to create roadblocks in fulfilling Modiji's dream do whatever they can, I can tell you with confidence that the people of my constituency will teach them a lesson and once again vote for electing Modiji as our prime minister for a third consecutive term.

There has been controversy around your caste certificate. While the high court ruled against your plea you have gone in appeal in the Supreme Court where the hearings have concluded and the judgment has been kept in reserve.

When something is reserved by the Supreme Court, then it is not proper for either me or you to discuss such issues.

You and your husband crossed swords with Uddhav Thackeray two years ago. What message would you have for Uddhav Thackeray?

Five times before 2019, the Amravati Lok Sabha seat was always won by Uddhav Thackeray's (the undivided) Shiv Sena (Anandrao Adsul had won the Amravati Lok Sabh aseat in 1996, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 in alliance with the BJP.

The fact that despite this historic record they couldn't demand Amravati for the Shiv Sena (UBT) only shows how weak he (Thackeray) and his party have become in their alliance with the Congress and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar<e/m>).

They (SS-UBT) knew that if they had fielded their candidate from Amravati the people here would have demanded answers from them as to why they conspired to jail my husband and me.

• INDIA VOTES, 2024