PANAJI
Even as the political unusual visit of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to the Bicholim residence of Poriem MLA and former Goa chief minister Pratapsing Rane has raised several eyebrows and has been a topic of much discussion in several quarters including sections of the media, the man himself dismissed it as just a pleasant "courtesy call".
Immersed as Goa's polity is in a pre-election frenzy, Fadnavis, who is the ruling BJP's Goa election in-charge, visited the veteran Congressman at his residence late Tuesday night with the BJP state unit president, Sadanand Tanavade in tow.
The Fadnavis-Tanavade duo spent nearly an hour at the Ranes, media reports said, and photographs of the two with Rane Sr and his wife Vijayadevi in the frame went viral on social media platforms.
Some media sections used the peg to cleverly stitch together speculative reports that suggest the meeting had political overtones and that the BJP side was attempting to wean away from the senior politician with a gubernatorial post, particularly in the backdrop of his son having joined the saffron party, and has been a cabinet minister since 2017.
The Goan contacted Rane who dismissed all the speculation and described Fadnavis's visit to his residence as a courtesy call.
"Irrespective of the political situation and circumstances, we have known each other for a long time. He was in Goa and he paid a courtesy visit," Rane Sr told The Goan on Wednesday.
The senior Rane, who has stayed put in the Congress since his pre-election switch from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party in 1979, is being speculated unlikely to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in 2022 due to his advanced age.
However, the veteran politician who has held the Chief Minister's post multiple times and has a record 51 years of continuous innings in the Goa legislative assembly from first Sattari and the current post-delimitation Poriem constituency, is yet to publicly announce his decision.
Nonetheless, the political eco-system lorded over by his heir-apparent and son Vishwajit, who is the current health minister, has on more than one occasion in the past indicated that his wife Divya would fill the void if and when Rane Senior decides to bid farewell to electoral politics.
At the moment though, Rane Senior is firmly at the helm, at least in Poriem if not the whole of Sattari-Bicholim region and firmly rooted in the Congress, the party many political analysts and senior journalists vouch he is unlikely to desert and sully his five-decade-long active political career at its fag end.
