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Congress gives ticket to Goa’s Pratapsingh Rane, sets up face-off with his son
Goa elections 2022: The Congress decision to field Pratapsingh Rane comes a day after the 82-year-old veteran politician declared his intention to contest the elections, prompting Vishwajit Rane to rebuke his father for not retiring “gracefully” from politics.
PANAJI: The Congress on Wednesday named Pratapsingh Rane, 82, as the party’s candidate from Goa’s Poriem assembly seat, setting up a face-off between the former Goa former chief minister and his son, Vishwajit Rane, who is in the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The announcement comes just a day after Pratapsingh Rane declared his intention to contest the elections, prompting his son to rebuke the veteran Congress leader for not retiring “gracefully” from politics.
At 83, why does he have to continue in politics? One should gracefully retire after becoming a chief minister for more than nine terms. A person who is my idol and someone I have so much respect for, that person should gracefully retire, not retire in the battlefield. It will be a very messy thing,” Vishwajit said on Tuesday.
Also Read: ‘Retire or will be messy’: Goa BJP’s Vishwajit Rane’s harsh advice to his father
Vishwajit Rane, who has represented Valpoi assembly seat since 2007, also declared that he will contest from the Poriem seat as well. Vishwajit later tweeted that he will sort it out “internally within the family”.
Pratapsingh Rane’s candidature was announced by AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik. He is the eighth Congress candidate to have been named by the party. The Congress earlier named eight candidates for assembly elections early next year but one of them, Curtorim MLA Aleixo Lourenço, this week resigned from the assembly and joined the Trinamool Congress led by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Vishwajit initially hoped to get a BJP ticket for his nominee from the neighbouring Poriem seat that his father represents. Both seats are located along Goa’s forested eastern border with Karnataka and are considered the Rane family’s pocketborough.
Pratapsingh Rane’s declaration of his interest in contesting the assembly elections on Tuesday, and later Mukul Wasnik’s confirmation, have upset Vishwajit Rane’s calculations.
“The Central Elections Committee has approved the candidature of Shri Pratapsingh Rane as Congress candidate for the forthcoming general election to the Legislative Assembly of Goa from 18-Poriem constituency,” Wasnik’s statement on Wednesday said.
Vishwajit Rane has not reacted to the Congress fielding his father as the Poriem candidate. On Tuesday, he suggested that his father earlier agreed to retire from politics but was probably under pressure from the Congres party to throw his hat.
Pratapsingh Rane is Goa’s longest serving MLA; he has won 10 assembly elections since 1972. Pratapsingh also holds a record for having served as chief minister of the state for a little less than 16 years across six terms between 1980 and 2007.
