Consensus, Congress never went hand-in-hand in Panaji

the goan I network
PANAJI

Fast forward to the present situation, there are, besides Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, three candidates contesting against him with the Goa Suraksha Manch and the Congress both fighting while the Aam Aadmi Party has backed off from the race without explicitly backing any of the contesting candidates.
Why did the consensus candidate plan fail? Sources in each of the opposition parties have attributed different reasons with the common thread being that the bone of contention was whether the candidate would stand as an independent backed by all parties or as a Congress candidate, but backed by all parties.
The Congress' stance that the candidate would have to file his nomination on a Congress party ticket, and not as an independent, was a deal-breaker for the other parties.
"When the question of fielding an all-party candidate came up, two names came up. When former Panaji Mayor Ashok Naik's name was being discussed for candidature by the Congress, we were of the opinion that Congress should not declare him as the candidate and instead he should contest as an all-party candidate. We made all efforts to field a single candidate against Parrikar," the Goa Suraksha Manch's Subhash Velingkar had told reporters recently.
This view was echoed by the Aam Aadmi Party, with party sources saying that they did have "very informal" talks with the Congress but didn't really believe that the party was serious about backing a consensus independent candidate.
"We did have very informal talks with some senior leader of the Congress who initially mooted the idea of a joint opposition candidate. But we didn't think that they were serious about the idea. Their intention would
always be to have everyone back the Congress candidate," AAP sources said.
For its part, the AAP has not backed the Congress candidate and there is no indication that the party has sent out any instructions to its volunteers in Panaji to back either candidate.
While the party has indicated it would like to see the defeat of the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, it has stayed away from backing
either the Congress or the GSM candidate.
Congress party chief Shantaram Naik conceded that the party was always of the intention to have the opposition rally behind its candidate if not for anything, but to establish a base of the party in the city.
"There were these talks going on but Congress as such was never party to these. We always wanted to contest because we want to establish our base here," Naik said.
"The whole talk of consensus candidate began because people wanted the non-BJP vote base to unite and defeat Parrikar. AAP and several other social leaders have responded positively to our appeal for support and for consolidation of votes. That is consensus enough," Shantaram said.
While Naik has sought to push the idea that the Congress was not open to the idea of a consensus independent candidate the party has only too happily backed candidates most recently in the Panaji and Porvorim seats during the general assembly elections in Porvorim.