Located on the southernmost tip of Maharashtra, the coastal district of Sindhudurg is the scene of a fierce electoral battle between the Shiv Sena and the rebel who has become its arch enemy — Industries Minister Narayan Rane.

Rane (57), who would like to see himself in the chief minister’s chair if the Congress-NCP returns to power in the state, is fighting from Kudal. But for him, this Assembly election is as much about winning this seat as establishing his political supremacy in the Konkan region. Which means that not only can’t he lose Kudal but that neither can his close associate Ravindra Phatak (43), contesting from neighbouring Kankavali, and the NCP’s Deepak Kesarkar (54), from Sawantwadi, lose.

The Shiv Sena, which had always projected Rane as their poster boy in south Konkan before he quit the party in 2005, is determined not to lose the battle for its survival in the region. South Konkan essentially remains a money order economy, surviving on cash transfers by residents working in Mumbai.

Pitted against Rane from Kudal, which comprises his strongholds of Malvan and Kudal, is 34-year-old Vaibhav Naik, nephew of Congress leader Sridhar Naik. Rane, who was then in the Sena, was one of the accused in the murder of Sridhar Naik. He was later let off by a local court. Naik switched sides to the Sena after Rane joined the Congress. Rane’s supporters maintain that not only will Naik lose but like in the 2005 bypoll, his opponent will forfeit his deposit. That bypoll, which Rane contested and won against Parshuram Uparkar of the Sena, was necessitated by his defection to the Congress.

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