PANJIM: After skipping the crucial floor test on Thursday and embarrassing the Congress in the State Legislative Assembly, Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane resigned his membership from the Assembly and the Congress, within three hours of taking oath as MLA. The Valpoi MLA will re-contest from Valpoi, most likely as an Independent or on a BJP ticket.
The Congress strength has now been reduced to 16. The party had won 17 of the 40 Assembly seats and emerged as the single largest party.
Upset with the party’s Central leadership for its failure to form the government in the State, despite having emerged as the single largest party, Rane decided to put the party to shame on the Floor of the House by absenting himself during the floor test that saw Congress falter in the vote.
Before skipping the trust motion, Rane had taken oath as MLA along with his other 16 party members. After taking oath, he left the House and did not return.
When the motion was called, the Congress MLAs were seen searching for Rane, who was not in sight. A worried Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar, even looked for him in the washroom of the Assembly.
“Vishwajit Rane has submitted his resignation as MLA. I have accepted it,” protem Speaker Siddharath Kuncolienkar told Herald.
Kavalekar too confirmed Rane’s resignation from the party membership. “He submitted the resignation to the Congress office,” he said expressing complete shock over the development.
The CLP has expressed shock over the development. “We are shocked with his decision. Until this morning, everything was going so well. He was very much part of the Congress legislative wing. He had extended his full support. We don’t know what went wrong,” Kavalekar said.
Rane was apparently furious with the party high command over the appointment of Kavalekar as CLP leader. Rane, who had projected his father Pratapsingh Rane as the next Congress Chief Minister during the poll campaign, was disheartened and anguished.
Rane had earlier stated that there were more disillusioned MLAs in the party and they could resign as well. He, however, did not reveal who. Several MLAs have voiced their anger against the leadership.
The Valpoi MLA had also written to All India Congress Committee (AICC) Vice-President Rahul Gandhi listing out his grievances against the party’s indecisive functioning two days earlier and had threatened to resign if action was not taken. He had named AICC General Secretary and Goa desk in charge Digvijay Singh as responsible for the party’s mess and failure to form the government, while demanding action against him.
Earlier he had slammed party leadership calling it a ‘joke book’. “The Congress functions like a joke book. They spend the whole day selecting a CLP leader. Congress should have decided about post poll alliance on March 11 itself, when the results were out,” he stated.
The three-time Valpoi MLA had won the February 4 election garnering 13,493 votes. His closest competitor was Satyavijay Naik of the BJP with 7815 votes.
Rane, first entered the Assembly in 2007 as an Independent and had extended his support to the Congress. He then joined Congress by forcing a by-poll with his resignation and was re-elected. He served as Minister for Health and Agriculture in the Digambar Kamat led cabinet from 2007-2012.
