Insiders say party already working on plan B
the goan I network
PANAJI
Speaking to The Goan, Dr Chellakumar stated, “There is no doubt that we will contest the Panaji by-poll as a party. We are in the process of formulating a list of strong candidates just to ensure that we have a serious face at the polls whether or not Babush decides in our favour.”
Interestingly, sources from the party have confirmed​ that the Congress big-wigs are debating over two specific prospective names as the Congress ‘Plan B’ for Panaji. “The names of former president of Goa Forward Prabhakar Timble and former Union Minister of State Ramakant Khalap are presently doing the rounds at the party meetings,” the source revealed. But party officials continue to live in the hope that Taleigao strongman Babush Montserrate will enter the fray in Panaji yet again after his electoral defeat by 900 votes at the hands of Siddharth Kuncalienkar in March earlier in the year.
Monserrate, on the other hand, has announced that he will disclose his decision only after the declaration of the by-poll. He has also assured the Congress that he will ‘not waste the party ticket’, summoning to mind the incident of 2007.
