MARGAO
Curtorim Assembly segment should hold out a lesson or two for the established political players in the recently held Lok Sabha polls “ not to take people’s power for granted.
Consider this. Curtorim’s political heavyweights “ Independent MLA Reginaldo Lourenco and Congress MP Francisco Sardinha did not work for the Congress. In fact, while four-time Reginaldo openly supported the BJP candidate Pallavi Dempo on the plea that the BJP government is supporting his development agenda in Curtorim, MP Francisco Sardinha stayed away from the Congress campaign on the grounds the party did not nominate him for the South Goa seat.
Curtorkars, however, sprang a big surprise on polling day when they made a beeline to the polling booths to cast their vote. And, when the EVMs were opened on June 4, votes just rained in favour of the Congress candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes, giving him an unprecedented lead over the BJP in recent Lok Sabha election history.
Consider this. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Reginaldo Lourenco had thrown his hat in the ring, he had managed to secure around 7,000 vote lead in Curtorim. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, MP Francisco Sardinha’s vote lead over the BJP in Curtorim segment increased by around 1000 votes, giving him an overall lead of 8000 votes.
Captain Viriato's lead over the BJP in Curtorim crossed the 9000-vote mark, around 9188 vote lead to be precise.
Even Revolutionary Goans Party candidate Rubert Pereira’s presence in the Lok Sabha fray could not stop the Congress from taking the huge lead. Take note, Rubert hails from the Curtorim Assembly segment and expectations were high that he would eat into the Congress vote a la the 2022 Assembly election when he had polled impressive votes. In fact, Rubert polled a meagre 790 votes in the Curtorim segment.
Sources said that Captain Viriato’s campaign was led by Congress leaders, including Curtorim block president Mila Fernandes, Moreno Rebello and others, besides Aam Aadmi Party leader Roque Mascarenhas.
If sources are to be believed, it was people who volunteered to host the election meetings for the Congress candidates in many areas, which were attended by the Congress and AAP leaders.
