Former Congress leader and now Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition Government Vishwajeet Rane is now the target of a disqualification petition filed by Congress leaders in Goa, who have claimed that Rane, who has to face a by-poll before September, may be disqualified from contesting elections for five years.
The petition which was filed before the Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court on Friday has sought the disqualification of Rane, who incidentally is the son of veteran Congress leader Pratapsing Rane, under Article 226 of the Indian Constitution.
“Vishwajeet’s act of resigning from the party undermined the very essence of elections in a democracy. He was elected to represent the people of his Valpoi Constituency for five years and yet he dumped them within days of the election results and joined hands with the BJP,” Congress spokes-
person Ramakant Khalap told reporters at the State Congress headquarters in Panaji.
Rane, a three-term MlA from Valpoi Assembly Constituency from North Goa had resigned from the Congress as well as his legislatorship, on March 16, on the day of the floor test in the Goa legislative Assembly, where the Manohar Parrikar-led Government had to prove its majority in a floor test.
While, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition Governm-
ent easily won the floor-test with the help of support from regional parties and Inde-
pendent legislators, the Congress leadership blamed Rane for his ‘betrayal’.
Khalap now claims that the petition would stall Rane’s attempt to contest the by-poll from the Valpoi Assembly Constituency, this time as a BJP candidate.
“We have argued in our petition that this is not possible. He is guilty of defection. He was elected for five years and now he will not even be eligible to contest,” Khalap also said.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Rane said that the disqualification attempt was a poor joke. “The petition is a joke. It only goes to show the level of bankruptcy in the Congress, both among its State and national leadership,” Rane said.