the goan I network
CANACONA
Having suffered a major jolt in the taluka since the sudden departure of Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes from the Congress in July 2019, the Congress block in Canacona convened its first meeting on Wednesday to strengthen the party.
While the meeting at the Shristhal Guest House was officially in view of the forthcoming ZP elections in two seats of Khola and Poinguinim in Canacona, it has been considered as an attempt to rebuild the Congress block of Canacona constituency since it went into a slumber after Fernandes switched sides to join the BJP.
“The meeting was basically convened to reconstitute and strengthen the block committee and to finalise party candidates for the two Zilla Panchayat seats at Khola and Poinguinim,” said GPCC Secretary Mahadev Desai, who was present at the meeting.
“The All India Congress membership drive is going on and we plan to finalise booth level committees in Canacona, as we await the ZP poll notification. Both seats will be fought on the Congress
party symbol.”
GPCC General Secretary Janardhan Bhandari, who also attended the meeting, said the new Canacona Block Congress would elect its new president.
“The Canacona Block Congress will also take up public issues at large on a regular basis and will also meet every month. Today, we discussed the upcoming ZP polls and many aspiring candidates in our party have been told to submit their bio-data to scrutinise their claim to party tickets at the ZP election,” Bhandari said.
GPCC Executive Member and former ZP (Poinguinim) Daya Pagui also attended and addressed the meeting, stating that the Block Congress would be revived following the jolt Canacona had suffered after the elected legislator from the Congress had switched sides, leaving the block in the lurch.
“The Canacona Block Congress had remained directionless for a long time, but now it will be vibrant and not only will we win the Khola and Poinguinim ZP seats, we will also win back the Canacona Assembly seat whenever elections are held,” Pagui said.
It may be recalled that a few months before Deputy Speaker and Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes along with nine other Congress MLAs had switched sides to join the BJP in July 2019, then Canacona Congress Block President Elvis Fernandes had gone overseas for better prospects.
There were three aspirants to the post left vacant by Elvis Fernandes, but the new block president was not elected and Isidore Fernandes then added a further jolt by leaving the Congress.
Others present at the meeting included GPYC Gen Secretary (South Goa) Pralay Bhagat, GPYC Block President Mithil Chari, Canacona Block Congress Committee Coordinator Remy Borges, former Gaodongrem sarpanch Rajendra Gaonkar, former Poinguinim panch Surendra Gosavi, Shristhal Panch Rajesh Gaonkar and GPCC (South Goa) Executive Member Dayanand Fhaldesai.
