One father has almost taken the vow of silence for his son’s political future and stays at home. Another father has taken a vow to be at his vocal best and criss-cross the talukas of Ponda and Valpoi, to fight his son’s inaugural battle, in a manner in which he has never fought any election for himself. Both the former Chief Ministers, one fighting to prolong the hegemony of the Rane’s in Sattari, the other  wanting to see the emergence of the next generation Naik, in the same belt. The side story of the battle for Valpoi is the tale of the two fathers, both with a common intent but with totally different paths to achieve them.

Pratapsingh Rane has a lot to thank the Congress for. The Congress has less to thank him for. It has allowed its senior member to stay away from the biggest battle the party is fighting in Sattari, the battle against one’s own - or ostensibly so - Vishwajit Rane. Maintaining a maun vrat (vow of silence) isn’t something alien to Senior Rane. He is perhaps most comfortable in the zone of silence, especially when  deciding not to do anything is a solemn decision he has taken for his son. Now whether he is in a dilemma or dichotomy or political pain, we do not know, but his actions, as we have stressed this across at least two editorials, indicate that he is not thinking beyond his son.

The repercussion of this may be felt across both ends of the political spectrum. The Congress will not trust him in that belt and nor will the BJP. They are the royalty of Sattari but the party cadre of both BJP and Congress may not see them as monarchs. But in his sunset years, Pratapsingh Rane, has chosen to back his somewhat imperfect prodigal son, to take the political future of the family forward for ten to fifteen years. But he is literally on his own and this battle is his.

His long time party colleague and his compatriot MLA, who sits on the same opposition benches as he does, Ravi Naik, is fighting what could indeed be his most significant political battle for his son. But he is not alone. The Congress, as it does, needed a dominant leader to front its battle against Vishwajit. But Ravi Naik has made this his own battle of prestige. His son Roy Naik too has his share of many imperfections. But for the senior Naik, to pitchfork his son into the Valpoi battlefield against a powerful regional satrap, needed will strategy and conviction.

Reports coming in from Valpoi and Usgao from those who are seeing him campaign confirm that they have never in recent years  seen the almost 70-year-old clock as many miles in an election. While the party is there with him in spirit, this too is his family battle. His other son Ritesh is camping in Usgao, which is in the family’s home taluka of Ponda, which has about 11,000 of the constituencies 26,000 votes. With Ritesh managing the area from where Roy Naik expects the maximum votes, senior Naik along with candidate Naik have unleashed themselves in the political theatre of Valpoi, working even with sections of the BJP, which aren’t happy with the manner in which Junior Rane has been thrust upon them.

It is clearly Ravi Naik’s personal battle more than his son. And he is handling this quite on his own, even deciding when he wants the congress top brass and where.

It’s indeed an irony, which will add to the cup of Goa’s ironies - the present coalition being the biggest one - that two veteran political fathers of the same party are in a proxy battle with each other, for the sake of their sons.