*Multi-cornered contest likely to split vote, spring surprise * non-BJP parties all out to stop Cong
MARGAO
Will the Congress “Hand” lend a helping hand to veteran political heavyweight Aleixo Sequeira to return to the Goa Legislative Assembly and add Nuvem to the party’s final tally of seats, crucial in the government formation?
In the fray after a decade in a bid to play his fifth political innings in his career spanning around three decades, Aleixo is facing a challenge of sorts from rivals, mostly non-BJP parties, who appear all out to stop his return to politics and deny Congress the seat.
In a constituency where the BJP has no significant presence, Aleixo, however, has a battle at hand with former MLA Wilfred D’Sa, contesting the polls as an Independent, besides others such as the Trinamool Congress nominee Jose Raju Cabral, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Dr Mariano Godinho and former MLA Mickky Pacheco seeking re-election on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) banner.
A Congress bastion over the years, the party had enjoyed a free run in the constituency before the fort crumbled a decade ago when flamboyant Mickky Pacheco stopped Aleixo’s innings in 2012.
The Congress bounced back to regain its stranglehold over Nuvem after the party fielded a new face, Wilfred D’Sa, who rode to victory on a pro-Congress wave in 2017 only to later defect to the BJP midway through his term.
As the candidates are heading towards the last leg of the hectic campaign, the challenge before Aleixo is simple – stop the Trinamool Congress juggernaut led by young Jose Raju Cabral from making deep inroads into the Congress vote-bank and also scuttle a determined bid by ex-MLA Wilfred D’Sa to retain the seat in the coming polls.
Ex-MLA Wilfred had romped home to victory in the 2017 polls on the Congress banner riding on a strong pro-Congress sentiment. His defection to the BJP in mid-2019 on the plea of development has brought the issue of defection to the centre stage in a constituency that is predominantly Catholic.
In fact, Wilfred has a task cut out to win back the confidence of his constituents on why and under what circumstances he had defected from the Congress to join the BJP. Unlike other candidates in the fray, Wilfred is moving around the constituency with sarpanchas and panch members in tow, who have come in handy to reach out to the people.
The return of former MLA Mickky Pacheco in the fray, this time on the NCP banner, has made political observers sit and assess the fallout. He, however, faces a challenge of sorts to keep his flock intact given that he had initially decided to seek election from the Benaulim constituency on the Congress banner.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made an impressive debut in Nuvem in the 2017 election, is being closely watched by observers. By reposing its trust in Dr Mariano Godinho, the AAP leadership has given a clean image candidate. It, however, remains to be seen how the AAP candidate performs this time around.
Political observers say the Congress vote is heading for a split with almost all the non-BJP players eyeing for a slice of the cake. The question that, however, remains unanswered is whether a divide amongst the Congress, TMC, NCP and AAP will benefit Independent candidate Wilfred, who with the help of sarpanchas and panch members have zeroed in on a certain percentage of votes, or, will the Hand symbol, which is expected to garner votes in almost all the segments of the constituency keep, the Congress in good stead?
As many as seven candidates remain in the fray for the Nuvem seat, including Aleixo Sequeira (Congress), Datta Borkar (BJP), Raju Cabral (TMC), Mickky Pacheco (NCP), Arvind D’Costa (RGP), Dr Mariano Godinho (AAP) and Wilfred D’Sa (Independent).
