PANAJI: Senior Congress MLA and former chief minister Pratapsingh
Rane
appears to have made up his mind about contesting the February 14
elections
with him saying that he will stand on a Congress ticket.
A day earlier, Rane had refuted suggestions that he had asked BJP to field his daughter-in-law from
Poriem
on his behalf. “Poriem is not my father’s property that I can decide to hand it over to any person,” Rane said.
In December, Congress had named Rane as its candidate for Poriem shortly after his son, Vishwajit, staked claim to the constituency.
On Thursday, BJP picked his daughter-in-law, Deviya as its candidate for Poriem. BJP’s Goa in-charge Devendra Fadnavis said that he had spoken to Rane to discuss the Poriem constituency and BJP’s candidate.
“If the party has declared my name as the candidate then the question of me not contesting does not arise,” said Rane. The veteran lawmaker has often hinted at his retirement ahead of every election. Congress’ senior election observer for Goa P Chidambaram had made it clear that while the party has nominated Rane as a candidate, the decision has been left up to the latter.
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