Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 27: After several reverses in Uttar Pradesh where the leaders named as the party’s candidates crossed over to the BJP, the Congress faced yet another setback, this time in Goa where the party’s veteran leader Pratapsingh Rane withdrew from the contest apparently to avoid a family tussle. The withdrawal by the party’s one of its top candidates, a former chief minister, is likely to impact the Congress prospects in the seaside state where it was hoping a stage a comeback after the BJP caused heart-burning in a section of the party rank and file by denying ticket to Utpal Parrikar, the son of the party’s former tallest leader in the state and chief minister late Manohar Parrikar.
The 87-year old Pratapsingh Rane, has decided to withdraw from the contest, which would have pitted him against his daughter-in-law though Rane would not agree and claimed that he was stepping back because of his age and “not family pressure.”
The former Chief Minister was named by the Congress as its candidate from Poriem in December. Last week, the BJP declared that his daughter-in-law Deviya Vishwajeet Rane would contest from the seat. Poriem is the stronghold of Rane, an 11-time MLA who has never lost an election in this constituency.
Rane is the longest serving chief minister of Goa. His son Vishwajeet Rane is a minister in the Goa BJP government. Rane junior, who was also in the Congress, had crossed over to the BJP after the 2017 national elections.
Earlier, Pratapsingh Rane had denied that he would pull out of the election. “If the party has declared my name as the candidate then the question of me not contesting does not arise,” he had said. He had on Saturday also attended a Congress meeting for candidates at a hotel in Panaji.
His decision would be a huge blow to the Congress, which has held the Poriem seat for 45 years. Congress leader P Chidambaram had said: “That seat (Poriem) has been identified with Mr Pratapsingh Rane for nearly 50 years now. As far as we are concerned, we have announced him as a candidate and we have told him, you contest the election or you suggest a name which can be forwarded to the (leadership).”
There were reports earlier that the BJP would set up a father-son fight in Poriem by fielding Vishwajeet Rane against his father. But the party decided to field Vishwajeet Rane from neighbouring Valpoi instead, naming his wife Deviya, a doctor, for Poriem. Pratapsingh Rane has denied that he had approached the BJP with an offer to help if his daughter-in-law was given a ticket.
In Punjab too, where the Congress is currently in power, all is not well with the party. Fissures have come out in the public in the party rank and file and in contrast to the chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi claiming there was no differences with the state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, five Congress members of Parliament from the state giving Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Golden Temple a miss on Thursday speak volumes of bad blood in the party.
In a public show, Channi on Thursday hugged Sidhu and said there was no fight between them. “People say there is a fight between us. Announce the chief minister face for Punjab polls and we will stand united, Rahul Gandhi ji,” Charanjit Singh Channi said as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also present at the gathering.
But the party’s former national president’s visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Thursday had something missing — five Congress MPs staying away from Gandhi leading to speculations about them being upset with the Congress party.
Manish Tewari, Jasbir Singh Dimpa, Ravneet Bittu, Mohd Sadiq and Preneet Kaur gave the visit a miss. While Tewari has raised questions about Channi’s selection as the Punjab chief minister even in the recent past, his absence made his differences more conspicuous. His aide, however, said he was travelling to Nurpur Bedi and other areas on Thursday and hence couldn’t be there.
Dimpa, who has been upset with the party lately after Congress denied him a ticket from Khadoor Sahib and his aide, Satinder Singh Chajjalwaddi, also joined the Akali Dal after being denied a seat. He was declared Akali Dal’s candidate from Jandiala.
Dimpa, however, said that he did not boycott Rahul’s show, but was not invited by anyone. “I thought they wanted to invite only 117 Assembly candidates. I did not get any invite from the CM, AICC in-charge or the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee,” he added.
Mohd Sadiq said he was not able to go to Golden Temple as his sister-in-law had passed away. Preneet Kaur, who is the wife of former CM Amarinder Singh, has been staying away from party activities ever since her husband was ousted as the CM. A number of MPs had supported Amarinder during a rebellion against him.