Curtorim constituency MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco became the latest political casualty that Congress suffered. Seen as a symbol of the youth in the party, Reginaldo, in a sudden change of mind, resigned amid an intense Congress campaign and decided to join the Trinamool Congress. It is less than a fortnight that Ravi Naik, a veteran of many political battles and a seasoned Congressman representing the Ponda constituency, quit the party and joined BJP.
Ironically, Reginaldo who has been hobnobbing with parties like BJP and AAP has been giving the Congress leadership some anxious moments in recent times. The Curtorim MLA’s moves to jump ship have been diffused by the Congress recently with even Rahul Gandhi calling him up on his birthday, and the State leadership rushing in with promises of a new role. Reginaldo did make his presence felt at party press conferences, but apparently, nobody in the party could understand the subdued avatar of their once outspoken legislator. He figured prominently in the first list of candidates announced by the party a few days ago, but that was just an indication that the party wanted to placate him and offset speculations.
Reginaldo’s ouster will deal a huge blow to the Congress rank and file. If Ravi Naik was considered a retired politician in the party, Reginaldo was a fierce campaigner. For him to dismiss a party ticket and resign from the Congress bastion of Curtorim, and that too at a time when the party was rolling up its sleeves, is surprising. It means that there is something that both the Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao and senior party election observer P Chidambaram have failed to understand.
The think-tank has not only failed to understand the pulse of MLAs quitting, but have done nothing to stem the rot. In a fast-evolving electoral pattern centred around money power, the Congress seems to have crumbled. Let’s face the reality. Given the dynamics of electoral battles, leaders who have already spent multiple tenures in the Opposition, cannot be expected to sit in comfort zones with mere hope and belief of allegiances and ideologies, and some elusive reward.
It is for each party to exude confidence within teams with some solid politicking and strategizing. How they do it is their business. Many senior leaders who once considered Congress as an option, including former Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte, have shunned the party and considered other options. These are signs that leaders within and outside have lost confidence in Congress, and that’s a major negative at this juncture.
It would be futile blaming those who have left, as much as it is futile in giving reassurances when the party has lost its grip. It is a sorry state that a party that was positioning itself as the principal opposition a few weeks back, and even endorsing Goa Forward’s appeal of a second liberation, yesterday, is reduced to a faint shadow.
It is time Congress stops blaming those deserting the party and introspects on whether leaders have failed the party or vice versa.
