BJP Goa honours Congress leader, attacked for sidelining LK Advani instead

BJP leaders should first confer the status to L.K. Advani, which they have conferred on Congress leader Pratap Singh Rane, said Goa Congress President Girish Chodanka.

LK Advani (PTI)

New Delhi: The Congress Party has once again picked up on the BJP for sidelining and not recognising veteran leader LK Advani and said that the ruling party must honour its own senior leaders instead of veteran Congress leaders ahead of Goa Assembly elections with dubious "life-long" cabinet status.”

The statements were made by Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar after the BJP-led state government conferred former Chief Minister and sitting Congress MLA, Pratapsingh Rane with "life-long" cabinet status.

Congress leader Rane, 82, however, has not yet accepted or denied the honour offered by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

"There is a senior leader in our country. A big leader whom everyone respects -- L.K. Advani, perhaps the BJP has forgotten him. We want to remind the Advani, who built the BJP, has been pushed to a corner. You do not respect your leaders, but you want to respect our leaders?" Chodankar said in a media briefing on Friday.

The controversial decision by the BJP-led coalition government has been taken ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the BJP side of the story is that the honour has been offered in view of the fact that Rane has completed 50 years as an MLA from the Poriem Assembly constituency without losing a single Assembly election.

However, the Goa Congress President believes that the BJP conferred the honorary status on Pratap Singh Rane because the ruling party is likely to lose the Poriem Assembly seat, if the veteran leader chooses to contest it in the upcoming elections.

"They (BJP) are afraid because if Pratapsingh Rane contests, then he will win and BJP will lose one seat. They are afraid of losing even one seat. They are afraid of the Congress. They did this out of fear," Chodankar said.

The opposition party even compared the move as an a trick of offering chocolate to a small kid.

"It is like offering chocolate to a small child. They think Pratap Singh Rane is a small boy. He will not fall for such tricks. He has seen it all. If Pramod Sawant wanted he should have said he (Rane) would be made CM, why did he not say that?" he added.

Pratap Singh Rane`s son, Vishwajit is currently the Health Minister in the BJP-led coalition government.

(With agency inputs)