Former Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane on Tuesday, 21 December, announced that he will contest the 2022 Goa Assembly elections on a Congress ticket.
"Congress block members and well-wishers have urged me to file nomination. I will contest the upcoming assembly elections from Poriem constituency as a Congress candidate," the 10-time MLA and veteran Congress leader told reporters in Goa.
Soon after Rane's announcement of his candidature from Poriem, his son, Vishwajit Rane, told the media in a startling development that he will be competing with his father for the Poriem seat on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.
"I will be contesting from Poriem Assembly segment. My father should gracefully resign after 50 years in politics," he told local reporters in Goa.
Vishwajit Rane, elected as an MLA from the Valpoi constituency, has been serving as a minister in the BJP-led Goa government.
His announcement comes amid conjecture of a rift with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The two BJP leaders, while they have denied any falling out, are reported to have locked horns on various issues, including the handling of COVID-19 in the state.
Meanwhile, after the defection of former Goa Congress leader Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday – another departure among a series of resignations from the state unit of the party – the Congress's strength in the 40-member state Assembly is down to two.
Earlier in December, BJP leader from Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis had also hinted that Pratapsingh Rane would quit the Congress and move to the BJP.
However, the rumours were put to rest after a denial of the same by the veteran Congress leader, who had said, “The news that is being spread that I am quitting my party is a figment of imagination. These people just want to spread canards. I am not leaving my party.”
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)