MARGAO
Battleground Fatorda. Indeed, the home turf of Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai is turning into a battleground ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.
Just two days after Sardesai stitched up an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party under the banner of Goa First, the Congress is equally gearing up for a battle royale with the alliance partners on Sardesai’s home turf of Fatorda.
If Day One of the ongoing Ganesh festival saw Team AAP, led by national convener Arvind Kejriwal, hogging the limelight as they descended at the ancestral home of Sardesai to participate in the festivities, Day Two saw none other than State Congress president Girish Chodankar unveiling battle plans to take Sardesai head-on in Fatorda in the coming hustings.
In fact, the Congress has shortlisted as many as three probable candidates to contest the electoral battle from Fatorda, including former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and South Goa MP Captain Viriato Fernandes.
Observers say it is too early to predict how these emerging political developments will unfold, or whether the Congress High Command has given the go-ahead to the Goa Congress leadership to shortlist candidates against the Goa Forward chief. Sources, however, say that the fact that GPCC president Chodankar himself has unveiled the electoral plans against Sardesai in Fatorda shows that the party is not ruling out anything.
That’s not all. The state Congress president has also pulled out a lethal weapon from the party’s armoury by recalling Sardesai’s 2017 decision to support and help bring the BJP government to power, despite the people of Goa having decisively rejected the saffron brigade at the hustings.
The move indicates that the Congress is ready to go all guns blazing against Sardesai in Fatorda in 2027.
The Congress move to shortlist candidates for Fatorda comes at a time when reports indicate that BJP State president Damu Naik has firmly set his sights on the constituency. In fact, the former two-time BJP MLA from Fatorda has been systematically reaching out across the constituency, including arranging a train trip to the pilgrim centre of Vailankanni, apparently in a bid to keep the minority community in good humour.
With Congress and the BJP both appearing to sharpen their focus on Fatorda, the constituency represented by the Goa Forward chief since 2012 could well emerge as one of the most closely watched electoral battlegrounds in Goa in 2027.
Congress eyeing Fatorda win, not just Vijai’s defeat: Girish
MARGAO: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar on Tuesday said the Congress would contest Fatorda with the aim of winning the seat and not merely defeating Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai.
Chodankar’s statement comes amid a general perception that the lotus will bloom again in Fatorda if the "secular" and non-BJP vote splits.
Chodankar said the Congress would also have to assess Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s strategy for Fatorda, asserting that the Chief Minister will 100 per cent not allow BJP state president Damu Naik to contest the election.
“The CM aims at killing two birds with a single stone. If Damu Naik contests and wins the Fatorda seat, then he will also be in the race for the post of Chief Minister. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will not want such a situation in 2027,” he said.
The GPCC chief also made a strong allegation that Sawant and Sardesai had moved closer following the cash-for-job scam.
“We had seen Sardesai aggressively taking on the Chief Minister. But, after the cash-for-job scam, both the Chief Minister and Vijai Sardesai seemed to have come closer. Sardesai’s criticism of the Chief Minister has stopped after the scam,” he added.
Viriato ready for ‘surgical strike’ on Vijai in Fatorda
MARGAO: Even as the Congress weighs its options for Fatorda, South Goa MP Captain Viriato Fernandes on Tuesday said he was ready to take the battle to Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai’s home turf if entrusted with the responsibility by the party leadership.
“I am a war veteran. If tasked by the party leadership in Delhi, I’ll take the battle into the enemy camp. Those who have taken Rs 100 crore from the BJP in London to split anti-BJP votes will be destroyed by the people of Goa,” he said, when asked about his name figuring among the probable candidates for Fatorda in the 2027 Assembly election.
Though Fernandes has not received a call either from the Goa party leaders or the Delhi leadership regarding his candidature for Fatorda, the former Naval captain is believed to have indicated that he would not shy away from shouldering any responsibility entrusted to him by the central leadership.
Fernandes’ name has been doing the rounds as a probable candidate for Fatorda since the weekend, when his candidature was reportedly suggested in the party forum as an option to carry out a “surgical strike” in the constituency in the 2027 Assembly election.
In fact, even before Sardesai forged the alliance with AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday, senior party leaders had proposed the candidature of the South Goa MP, even as other potential candidates, including former Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha, were discussed within the Congress forum.
