In big feudal political families especially those with royal links, it’s always ‘parivaar’ over party. So when Pratap Singh Rane, close to completing 50 years as an MLA and one of Congress’ senior most leaders countrywide says “Family is more important than politics”, it should hardly come as a surprise.
But the refusal of Pratap Singh Rane to campaign against his son Vishwajit, the BJP candidate, for the Valpoi by-election, goes beyond the simple family loyalty practiced by the likes of warring politicians from within the same family. For instance the late Congress leader and Union Minister from Gwalior Madhav Rao Scindia never campaigned in the constituency of his estranged mother Vijaya Raje or his sister Vasundhara Raje. Maneka and Sonia Gandhi have never entered each other’s political bastions in UP, not too far from each other.
For the Ranes of Sattari, the bastions of Poriem and Valpoi have been and will continue to be family fiefdoms. It was purely incidental that both father and son happened to be in the Congress and continued to deliver two seats to them, by virtue of their own strangleholds. While they are two adjoining constituencies, they are together known as the family belt of the Ranes. While Pratap Singh Rane, the senior has never found himself travelling from his farmhouse to Panjim in a car without a red light, either as Chief Minister, Speaker, leader of the Opposition or Chairman of the Kala Academy, son Vishwajit has found himself in and out of power. Increasingly impatient with the Congress not being able to form a government, junior Rane has been plotting and planning, at times in connivance with the BJP, to form his own regional party and back the BJP. It is only because the BJP insisted that he should take a clean break and cross over, that Vishwajit initially hesitated to join the BJP officially, fearing that the anti incumbency sentiment before the 2017 polls might affect him. But after the BJP formed a coalition government, Vishwajit had no such apprehensions and quit his seat and his party within hours of taking oath. While the decision was purely based on the need to be in power, for the ostensible need to have access to development channels and funds, there was never any plan to surrender the family legacy or hold to any party or individual. The BJP has not, and perhaps will not, want to enter the area of the Ranes through any other candidate. It has strategically decided to acquire a Congress asset and claim Valpoi through him.
For Vishwajit Rane, nothing really changes because he gets to control Valpoi just as before without being answerable either to the BJP mandal, or any other party organisation. The BJP organisation has no control over junior Rane but its fine with it because Valpoi is almost set to have a BJP MLA.
For the Ranes, both junior and senior, all that matters is that the family continues to represent the constituencies. While the BJP is gaining seats and can go with the drift, it is baffling that the CLP leader Babu Kavlekar says that he “respects” Pratap Singh Rane’s decision not to campaign against his son. Senior Rane may have taken his decision, but the party has every right to express its view and issue a diktat to senior Rane to campaign for the party. The time to test the veteran Congressman’s loyalty to the party is now. Let the party ask him officially to campaign and let senior Rane refuse in writing. Let that refusal be discussed by the State Congress and the AICC and a course of action decided. The Congress is not even going through the process of enforcing or demanding party loyalty from a man who has received so much from the Congress. Meanwhile Babu Kavlekar as CLP leader owes an explanation to the party why he respects the decision of Pratap Singh Rane, which will go against his party. Senior Rane’s loyalty to his son may be greater than his loyalty to the party but that does not need Babu Kavlekar’s respect or endorsement. Simply put, why should Pratap Singh Rane do as he pleases, if he continues to be in the party, without being asked to explain and justify his actions or inactions?
Meanwhile the Congress’ inactions have led to the Sattari bastion slip out of its hands by proxy.
In true BJP style, seats they never thought they could win are being acquired by getting the candidates who have been winning form other parties. And though this possibility doesn’t stare at us in the face now, the future possibility of the BJP getting the older Rane in the party in some form or the other cannot be ruled out. This is the art of making family raj into a party’s own raj.
