MARGAO
The Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) has made its presence felt in Salcete during the weekend as party candidates filed their nomination papers for the Zilla Panchayat constituencies of Colva, Velim, Nuvem and Raia.
The RGP has fielded a mechanical engineer, a social activist, a tiart artiste and a sitting panchayat member for the four seats in Salcete.
Accompanied by RGP MLA Viresh Borkar to the office of the Returning Officer, the four candidates Anthony Roberts (Colva), Dagley Fernandes (Velim), Sebestiao Willy Silveira (Nuvem) and Antoneta Fernandes filed their nomination papers, virtually indicating the party will cross swords against the Congress in Salcete.
Party MLA Viresh Borkar later told the media that the party has fielded the four candidates in Salcete after the Congress did not respond to the alliance proposal made by the regional party. “Since the party did not respond to our proposals and time running out, we were left with no option than to field our candidates for the four seats Colva, Velim, Nuvem and Raia,” he said.
Saying that the ruling BJP is all geared up for the upcoming ZP polls, Borkar said, the party would have been left further behind if it did not field candidates for the four seats. “Already we are behind the campaign because of the deadlock in the alliance talks. The Congress leaders are only saying that the talks will resume after the arrival of Goa desk in-charge, Manikrao Thakare. But, we did not want to take any chances since time is running out and there is hardly any time for campaigning,” he said.
Party candidate Dagley Fernandes said the regional party has been working to protect the interests of Goa and the people of Goa. “The RGP has been fighting to save what is left of Goa. We are confident that the people will rally behind the regional party in its efforts to save Goa from total destruction,” Dagley said.
