Pratapsingh Raoji Rane (born 28 January 1939) is an Indian politician from the state of
Goa. He has served as the
Chief Minister of Goa a record seven times and was also the former Leader Of Opposition in the
Goa Legislative Assembly
The Goa Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the state of Goa in India. The Assembly meets at the Goa State Legislative Assembly Complex in Porvorim, Bardez. The Eighth Goa Legislative Assembly consists of 40 members. The asse ...
. He has been a
Member of Legislative Assembly,
Goa for over 50 years. In 2022, the
Pramod Sawant led
Government conferred life long cabinet status on Rane.
Rane has been a member of the
Indian National Congress since the mid-1970s, and was earlier a prominent figure in the
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party ( MGP) was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese rule in Goa in 1961. In the first elections held after the Annexation of Goa by India, it ascended to power in December 1963 and stayed in power t ...
. In the MGP, he was minister for law and also held other portfolios, in the term beginning 1972.
Early life
Rane completed his primary education in SSPMS Boarding school,
Pune and later got his BBA degree in the United States. He comes from the prominent
Maratha family of the Ranes that dominated politics out of their home in the north eastern pocket of Sattari in Goa. They have had a set of revolts and peace treaties with the Portuguese while the latter were ruling Goa. The family traces their roots to the
Rane clan of
Marathas.
He dominated politics in Goa for the entire decade of the 1980s, and for part of the 1990s. His achievements include the launching of the
Kadamba Transport Corporation government-run bus transport system in
Goa which had a poor transportation system, which could still do with further improvements. He started Schools and Colleges in rural areas.
During his tenure as a Chief Minister, and also the
Goa University was established. He built a network of all weather roads connecting villages and Towns in Goa. Number of Industrial Estates and Industrial Training Institutes were stated during his tenure which helped Goa to industrialise.
He undertook to build small and big Irrigation Projects in various parts of Goa. He is also a founder member of the International Centre Goa and a founder member of
Goa Institute of Management, a premier Management Institute in
India.
Political career
In the 1980s, dissidents within the ruling Congress party sought to dislodge Rane from power, by appealing to
New Delhi mostly unsuccessfully. Some of his later tenures in power earned criticism allegedly because of growing corruption during his regime. He was leader of the Opposition while the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled Goa from the late-1990s until early 2005. His critics, like the then editor of the local Goa newspaper ''Herald'' or ''
O Heraldo'', Rajan Narayan criticised Rane for not doing enough as the leader of the Opposition.
Rane became chief minister after the Congress's first-ever win in
Goa in 1980 mainly as a "consensus candidate", after a bitter battle for the top political slot between the then two Congress heavyweights, Dr
Wilfred de Souza
Wilfred de Souza (23 April 1927 – 4 September 2015) was a surgeon and politician from Goa, India. He served as Goa's first Deputy Chief Minister of Goa and chief minister on three occasions when he was a member of the Indian National ...
and
Ananta Narcina Naik, also known as Babu Naik. Naik was subsequently largely marginalised in state politics, while Souza served under Rane in some of his cabinets.
After 5 years of
BJP rule, Rane began his fifth term as chief minister in February 2005 after the government fell due to a split in the Goa BJP. A month later, however, the state was put under president’s rule for three months. Rane then served as chief minister for the sixth time, for two years until the June 2007 state elections. Though the
Congress Party
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
and its allies won a comfortable majority, Rane was forced to step aside as chief minister due to infighting within the state Congress party, and was forced to step aside in favor of a neutral candidate,
Digambar Kamat. Rane was, however, elected speaker of the state assembly when it reconvened a few days later
Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World!
Personal
By profession, Rane is an
agriculturist. He is married. He enjoys reading and watching
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
Drama and also enjoys English Theatre and Western and Indian Classical Music. He loves playing the Piano.
Controversy
After the BJP attempted a "show of strength" to take over the Goa house, they were stifled by Rane. The BJP accused Rane of acting in a partisan manner to protect the Congress led government.
He has also been accused by businessman,
Bhalchandra Naik for demanding Rs 10 crore for being granted Environmental clearance for a mine, of which Rs 6 crore had been paid to his son
Vishwajit Rane
Vishwajit Pratapsingh Rane (born 23 March 1971) is an Indian politician and a cabinet Minister in the Government of Goa headed by Pramod Sawant. He is the son of Pratapsingh Raoji Rane who is a former Chief Minister of Goa and an incumbent In ...
, MLA from
Valpoi
Valpoi or Valpoy (''Vallpoi'', pronounced ) is a city and a municipal council in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. It is the headquarters of the Sattari Taluk. The Western Ghats are to the east of the town.
According to the aut ...
.
In 2018, Rane was caught in another controversy, where he called Goan emigrants from
United Kingdom, "toilet cleaners".
He was asked for an explanation by the
state party president,
Girish Chodankar
Girish (also spelled as Gireesh) is a Hindu name which means "lord of the mountain " in Sanskrit ("giri" means rock/mountain and "isha" means shiva). This is a name of Lord Shiva, given because of his abode in the Himalayan Mountains.
Girish i ...
.
References
External links
Goa Assembly - Chief Minister Profile, official version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rane, Pratapsingh
1939 births
Living people
Indian National Congress politicians from Goa
Chief Ministers of Goa
Speakers of the Goa Legislative Assembly
Leaders of the Opposition in Goa
Chief ministers from Indian National Congress
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party politicians
People from North Goa district
Goa MLAs 2017–2022
Indian National Congress (U) politicians