the goan I network
MARGAO
Two months after 10 party MLAs quit to embrace the BJP, the Congress is bracing up to kick-start an exercise to enroll new members in Quepem, Canacona, Cuncolim, Velim and Nuvem ahead of the constitution of block committees in these constituencies by December 1.
The Congress no longer represents these five constituencies in the Goa Legislative Assembly after MLAs Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar, Isidore Fernandes, Clafacio Dias, Filipe Neri Rodrigues and Wilfred D’Sa quit the party on July 10. That’s not all. The Congress has no block committees in these five Assembly segments after district Congress president, Joe Dias dissolved the blocks on grounds that some of them have moved away from the party with the MLAs.
Addressing the media in the presence of Party MP Francisco Sardinha, district president Joe Dias said the party would launch a membership drive in these five assembly constituencies as part of the exercise to enroll new members ahead of the constitution of the five blocks. “This exercise will end on November 1. After scrutiny, we plan to reconstitute the Congress blocks in Quepem, Canacona, Cuncolim, Velim and Nuvem by December 1,” he said.
When the media sought to know whether the Congress is hopeful of getting new members in these five constituencies, the district president exuded confidence of enrolling new members in all the five blocks. MP Francisco Sardinha intervened saying that Congress is a big ocean, saying though the MLAs might have quit the Congress, the workers and the votes are still with the party.
