TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The scent is in the swagger. If you saw Pratapsing Rane emerge from the Crown Hotel in Panjim after a long meeting with the Congress High Command on ticket finalisation, the body language was of a man who had got fresh juice in his bones.
Political fortunes are clearly on an upswing for the Ranes. After literally colonising the seat distribution process with as many as seven seats for their candidates, Pratapsing Rane was handpicked to lead the election campaign, by replacing Mauvin Godinho at the very last moment.
The power shift has become all the more acute when till late Saturday evening, the candidates Digambar Kamat backed were still groping in the dark as evening turned to night. Vijai Sardesai spent a better part of the morning in Panjim, having backroom chats with AICC observers before heading home in the second half with no idea if his seat being confirmed, just a waning hope. On the other hand Vijai Pai Khot has been Digambar Kamat’s man in the BJP for long and Kamat wanted to do a Vishwajit by getting Khot to defect and contest on a Congress ticket. He achieved partial success, when in a bizarre move the Congress gave the seat and Khot to the NCP. His will be formalised on Sunday though.
At the same time, there was word that the NCP is looking at Ashish Shirodkar in Mapusa as one of the two names in consideration. But who is backing Shirodkar? No marks for guessing. It’s Yuvraj Rane.
However, this sudden shift in the power in favour of Ranes does not seem to have gone down well with the other party leaders including Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, GPCC President Subash Shirodkar, Mauvin Godinho and PWD Minister Churchill Alemao.
“It’s a sign that Rane is being pitch-forked as the chief ministerial candidate”, sources in the party told Herald.
However, AICC incharge of
“The decision on who will be the leader will have to be taken by the legislators and not the party”, he replied.
Then why was Mauvin sacked to bring in Rane?
“Well, that was the decision by High Command as Mauvin is contesting elections and is busy campaigning and Mr Rane is a senior party leader who has vast experience and can successfully lead the party”.
As the battle for the last four seats reaches a decisive stage, the story is not about who the candidates will be but which potential Chief Ministerial candidate will have one more contestant on his side. At this point the Ranes are way ahead.
