Dear Editor Sujay Gupta Herald I was expecting this kind of Editorial from some of the Editors long back. I thought of writing in the same lines a similar letter but today I found a very suitable Editorial from a person of a high caliber whoever wrote this Editorial I must say Hatts Off to him. All the relevant points in this Editorial has covered up and nothing else was left. If Sr. Rane reads it, he should bury his head and leave the Congress, all his good work done during his tenure in the Congress has gone in the drain/gutter. Poor fellow he wants to please his family at the last moment of his age ?
Stephen Dias Dona Paula Mob: 9422443110 Note: I do not mind if the Editor publishes my letter of appreciation with little touch up.. =========================================================== A small advice to Shantaram Naik, present Goa President of Congress: Dear Shantaram Naik, I am sure you will appreciate today's Herald Editorial " AFTER GETTING EVERYTHING FROM CONGRESS SENIOR RANE SAYS FAMILY FIRST" Dear Shantaram if you have guts can you take this advice in your next meeting from this Editorial specially a valid point that Editor made, which is as follows: Quote: "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. " Will you have guts to take a decision in your meeting and put this to the public domain your actions, otherwise you too will be sailing in the same boat. Congress Goa party needs to revive as it is almost in the grave. Stephen Dias Dona Paula Please Note: Roy Naik selection is almost finalized but is it to please his father Ravi Naik another senior Congressman? Every Tom and Harry knows the credential of Roy and yesterday somebody wrote about his allegedly involvement on Scarlet Keeling and the drugs etec and still Congress accep ted him? Look at MonRat he ditched Congress at the last moment and do you think this Roy will do miracles? About Ashok Naik candidate for Panjim is another BJP guy in heart but since he was earlier ditched he may be wanting to take revenge possible to show that he can teach them a lesson tit for tat, but remember he has BJP blood and not Congress. Let us wait and see the outcome but I am happy that at least AAP and GSM have given him a support. Parrikar is Parrikar he is an intelligent man but nowadays he is shaken up by these Fott Fotting and Fottingponn group and his own BJP colleagues are now in soup and worried. Parrikar credentials is shaken up since he inducted all these so called lucifers . There were good guys in BJP and those who are gasping for their breath are given high perks. Nobody can reach Parrikar for his U-turns , not even Vijay who is just a temporary apprentice in BJP fold as nobody knows when he will dicth or teach a lesson. Stephen Dias Dona Paula ================================================================== *After getting everything from Cong, Sr Rane says family first* I• 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.
