the goan I network
MARGAO
Goa Forward’s Mission Salcete isn’t going to go unchallenged from the main rival Congress as the regional player is bracing up to make inroads into the Congress stronghold during the weekend, beginning with Cuncolim constituency.
That the Congress is gearing up for the Goa Forward challenge became evident when Congress president Girish Chodankar coined the regional party’s mission as nothing but ‘Mission Salcete Forward III’ with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as the architect.
“With Parrikar’s two previous Salcete Missions coming a cropper, it is now apparent that the Chief Minister has propped up Goa Forward to take the mission to the Salcete countryside to split the minority vote and remain in power,” the GPCC Chief told The Goan on Tuesday.
“You think the people of Salcete will fall prey to such machinations. Goa Forward might have succeeded in its mission if it was launched over a year ago. But, people of Goa, more so, the people of Salcete have seen how the Goa Forward has taken a big political U-turn by aligning with the BJP to form the coalition government when the people had given the mandate for the Congress,” Girish said.
In fact, he sought to down play Goa Forward’s entry into Salcete by saying the Congress need not worry much as the people in the minority heartland are well aware how Goa Forward and TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai had scuttled the popular mandate against the BJP by aligning with the very party which he had opposed tooth and nail in the run up to the 2017 Assembly election.
The GPCC Chief, however, is well aware of the challenge staring at the party in its bastion as the Goa Forward appears determined to make entry into the taluka with the help of established political players.
Take the case of Cuncolim.
That the Goa Forward is seeking entry into Cuncolim in a big way with the help of the Joaquim-Yuri Alemao duo, who has their own voter base, indicates that the regional party is not averse to make entry into the taluka with the backing of existing players.
Girish, however, has begged to differ.
“The Congress has its own voter base and I am pretty sure that our voters will neither forgive nor forget the role played by the Goa Forward in propping up Manohar Parrikar when the people of Goa, more so, Saxttikars had rejected the BJP in 2017,” he said.
The GPCC Chief, however, will have to grapple with the challenge from the regional player at the constituency-level as the nascent political party will seek to occupy a slice of the political space in the constituencies.
Already, Cuncolim constituency has been witnessing a battle of sorts between incumbent Congress MLA Clafacio Dias and the Alemao’s over the last couple of months, be it on the Chandor SH8 de-notification or the re-alignment of the Cuncolim bypass.
And, local political observers say the battle for supremacy for Cuncolim will only intensify with the planned entry of Joaquim-Yuri duo along with their supporters in the Goa Forward.
