MARGAO
They were comrades in arms in the 2012 Assembly election. Together they worked hard on the ground in Nuvem constituency to ensure the fall of heavyweight and former Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira.
However, much water has flown down the river Sal post-2012 and ex-Nuvem MLA Mickky Pacheco and his friend-turned-challenger, two-time Nuvem Zilla Panchayat member Wilfred D’Sa, are indeed bracing up for a no-holds barred battle in the coming election.
A sworn enemy of Aleixo Sequeira, Wilfred had lent his support to Mickky in 2012 in a bid to cut short Sequeira’s long innings in Nuvem. And, the duo succeeded as Mickky romped home with a comfortable margin against the Congress heavyweight.
Relations between Mickky and Wilfred, however, hit a block two years later on the eve of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. With the Congress party nominating MLA Reginaldo Lourenco for the South Goa seat, Wilfred was not averse to supporting his close friend Lourenco. Matters came to a head when Mickky called a meeting of his supporters at a resort at Betalbatim with then Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, to extend support to the BJP in Nuvem constituency. Mickky’s move came in for strong opposition from Wilfred and within days he got down on the ground to support the Congress nominee.
The Mickky-Wilfred political rivalry further intensified in 2015 when Wilfred sought re-election for the Nuvem ZP seat. The ZP election was even treated as a semi-final contest between the duo after Mickky fielded his nominee to checkmate the sitting ZP member, before Wilfred emerged a clear winner.
Says Mickky Pacheco: “I have no problem if Wilfred is planning to throw his hat in the electoral ring. I had won by a huge margin in the 2012 election. My victory margin was not restricted to Nuvem village, but across the constituency, including Majorda, Betalbatim and even Loutolim. The constitution guarantees any citizen to contest an election and I have absolutely no problem with any candidate.”
On the other hand, it was no looking back for Wilfred after he was invited by GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro to embrace the Congress. “The Congress has projected me as a party candidate after seeing my work in the constituency. I am confident that the party will nominate me for the seat. If not, my supporters will take a call on my future plans,” Wilfred said, even as reports said he is weighing various options, including throwing his hat in the electoral ring as an independent in the event the Congress denies him the ticket. “I had decided to part ways with Mickky after he supported the BJP candidate in the 2014 LS poll. We were opposed to support the BJP candidate, but he went ahead and backed Narendra Sawaikar. He then fielded a candidate against me in the ZP election and lost,” Wilfred said.
With Mickky embracing GSRP and Wilfred anxiously awaiting the Congress ticket, a battle between the two appears unavoidable with the two-time ZP member moving in the constituency to take the electoral plunge with or without the Congress ticket.
