PANAJI
The BJP on Thursday picked two couples, Vishwajit and Divya Rane from Valpoi and Poriem respectively, while also nominating the Monserrates, Atanasio and Jennifer, as candidates from Panaji and Taleigao, for the upcoming assembly elections which are scheduled to be held on Valentine’s Day.
The third couple, the Kavlekars, however, drew a short straw with deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant's wife Savitri not featuring in the party's list of 34 candidates which was released in the national capital.
Kavlekar will contest from his traditional Quepem assembly seat, while Savitri has threatened to contest as an independent candidate from Sanguem, where the BJP has fielded its former MLA Subhash Phaldesai.
The BJP also appears to have gone the extra mile to accommodate candidates mired in sex-related controversies.
Panaji, the seat represented by the BJP tallest leader, late Manohar Parrikar has been offered to Atanasio Monserrate, who faces accusations of rape of a minor girl, along with a string of criminal cases, which were tom-tommed by the BJP, when Monserrate contested the 2017 by-elections as a Congress candidate.
BJP's Goa in-charge defended both, the party's parliamentary board's decision to allot Monserrate a ticket and favouring couples as candidates, describing the decision as an "occupational hazard" in politics.
"We have to encounter occupational hazards in politics too. Babush Monserrate and his wife were elected and joined BJP. Jennifer Monserrate has her own identity and she is a minister in the BJP government," Fadnavis told reporters during a press conference in Panaji.
Describing how the BJP went about finalising the candidature of Divya Rane from Poriem, a constituency represented by her father in-law Pratapsingh Rane, Fadnavis said that the seniormost legislator in Goa had accepted the BJP's request to step aside from a losing battle on a Congress ticket and sanction Divya's candidature from his seat.
"The Poriem seat is Pratapsingh Rane's seat. He has been elected from that seat for 50 years on a Congress ticket. The Congress has never lost from there. We had requested Rane and told him that the Congress is sinking and it can never do any good for the country," Fadnavis said.
"Therefore, you (Rane Sr) should give the seat to the BJP and either he should contest on a BJP ticket or help the BJP. He accepted what we said and said that I have aged so I will not contest, Divya Rane will contest instead," Fadnavis said.
Rane Sr has however rejected the rationale presented by the former Maharashtra Chief Minister.
"It is not right. My name is being used, it should not be done. Poriem is not my backyard. This is fake news. Fadnavis met me several days ago. He had visited me. But I have not spoken any politics with him. Whether I contest or not is a different matter. First this needs to be clarified," Rane said.
Milind Naik, who stepped down after video, audio and Whatsapp messages hinted at his alleged involvement in a sex scandal involving a needy widow from Bihar, has also been picked to contest the elections from Mormugao.
