PANAJI
The deadline for candidates to file nominations ended at 5 pm and with it the sun set on the State level political careers three veteran political stalwarts -- Pratapsing Rane, Luizinho Faleiro and Dayanand Narvekar -- all of who had shown keen interest to contest the February 14 assembly elections.
None of them filed their papers on Friday which will erase from Goa's political landscape the towering presence of a generation of politicos who in varying degrees impacted the course of the State's politics for decades.
While Rane senior, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, had already announced his decision to bow out after weeks of uncertainty amidst a dramatic intra-family tussle of sorts with son and health minister, Faleiro backed off from contesting the Fatorda seat against Goa Forward Party's Vijai Sardesai, a seat for which his Trinamool Congress had already officially declared his candidature.
Narvekar on the other hand backed off from contesting as an Independent from Porvorim, after he was snubbed with a denial of ticket by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
All these three political veterans began their innings in the Goa legislative assembly in the 1970s. While Rane made his debut in the 1972 elections, Narvekar entered the House in the post-Emergency election held in 1977 and Faleiro won his first election in 1979-80.
Rane had an uninterrupted run winning all the 11 elections between 1972 and 2017, while both Narvekar and Faleiro had a 10-year forced sabbatical following defeats.
Meanwhile, another senior politician who could be bracketed with the Rane-Faleiro-Narvekar trio, but does not feature on the February 14 assembly election battlefront is Ramakant Khalap.
Although in the thick of election strategizing and also chairman of the Congress manifesto committee, the silver-haired former Union minister did not find favour of the grand old party's leadership to be among its 37 nominees.
