PANAJI
Former chief minister Pratapsingh Rane caused a flutter in the chaotic political landscape of Goa on Monday when he, accompanied by wife Vijayadevi Rane, went to the Bhumika Temple at Keri symbolically signifying he is out on the field campaigning for the February 14 elections.
The development rekindled an ongoing political drama in Sattari’s first family, which seemed to have ebbed with the senior Rane indicating he would bow out of electoral politics after a distinguished and uninterrupted 50-year innings in the Goa legislative assembly since 1972.
Although the senior Rane did not speak to the media, a supporter who was present told The Goan that ‘Kashe’ the title which locals refer him with, did not spell out if he will contest but simply remarked: “Prachar chaloo” (campaign has begun).
Should he eventually contest from his traditional Poriem constituency, he will be pitted against his daughter-in-law, Dr Diviya Rane, who has already been declared as a candidate by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The Sr Rane has been formally declared as the Congress nominee but its senior Central Observer P Chidambaram has made it clear that the party has left the decision to contest or not entirely with the senior leader.
For several years now constituency-level political management was being handled for the senior Rane by his son Vishwajit, who is health minister in the BJP government led by Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant. The father-son duo has been winning the twin Sattari constituencies of Poriem and Valpoi since 2007.
After the 2017 elections, Vishwajit who had won Valpoi on a Congress ticket, dramatically quit after abstaining from the confidence vote won by the late Manohar Parrikar and got re-elected on a BJP ticket in a by-election.
The politics and drama in the Rane family first spilled into the public domain a couple of months ago when the senior Rane’s statement to the media indicating he will contest the elections drew an angry retort from his son where the latter virtually vowed to himself contest and defeat his father by a 10,000-plus vote margin.
He also had said that his father should gracefully retire and a few days later things seemed to have thawed between father and son.
Many had thought that all was sealed when the Goa cabinet unusually conferred a “lifetime cabinet” status on Senior Rane in what it claimed was recognition of his contribution to the State in his fifty years as a member of the legislative assembly.
The ruling BJP also went ahead and announced the Vishwajit-Divya husband-wife duo as candidates for the Valpoi and Poriem seats respectively.
Monday’s visit to the temple by Rane Sr and his wife Vijayadevi followed by his assertion to supporters that the campaign has begun, however, indicates the last of the internal political drama in Sattari’s first family, is anything but over.
