MARGAO
Two days after embracing the Congress, bureaucrat-turned-politician Elvis Gomes has left party leaders and workers in a guess mode over the exact role he intends to play in the party “ whether he intends to contest the Assembly election from his home constituency Cuncolim or play a bigger role in the party scheme of things.
Tuesday saw Elvis making his presence felt at the South Goa district Congress office, where he disclosed his plan to embark on an exercise to travel to all the 40 blocks across the State to understand the grievances of the people and workers to ensure party’s growth.
After he was welcomed by district President Joe Dias, Elvis told the media that he has come to the district party office to get a feel of the working of the party at the district level, saying he has knowledge of the party functioning at the State level.
Saying that the issue of ticket to contest the Assembly election has not come up for the moment, he said the party has a laid down procedure on ticket and nomination of candidates. Elvis said his agenda for the moment is to visit each and every block and listen to the grievances of the people and the party workers. “The Assembly elections are nearing and we want to increase the consciousness of the people towards the party, why they should support the Congress in the coming elections,” he said.
Elvis added: “I have not come into the Congress just for an election, but to strengthen the party because I believe in Goa First as we have to work out a plan of action how to save Goa. Goa has gone down during the last 10 years. Now, we have to plan to save whatever is left in the State and protect it for posterity. The ticket is not an issue now. We have to go about the work.”
Asked to comment on the Velim fiasco over Benjamin Silva’s entry into the party, Elvis said the unfortunate incident could have been avoided, and hastened to add that what has happened has already happened. “In future, the party should take the concerned people into confidence and settle their grievances. I am ready to offer my services to the party to tackle such a situation because I am more interested in solutions,” he said.
It may be recalled that Elvis had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from South Goa on the AAP banner. Congress candidate Francisco Sardinha had regained the seat by defeating the sitting MP Narendra Sawaikar with a 10,000-vote margin.
