the goan I network
MARGAO
In an interesting development, Aam Aadmi Party’s 2017 Assembly candidate for Benaulim Royla Fernandes has emerged as a front runner for the Congress ticket for the Benaulim ZP seat.
Royla’s candidature has been vetted by the Benaulim Congress Committee as well as by the South Goa District Congress Committee. In fact, sources in the South Goa District Congress committee have informed that the Committee has recommended the lone name of Royla for the Benaulim ZP seat reserved for OBC.
Sources in the Congress said the district party panel has admitted that Royla had been the AAP candidate for the Benaulim Assembly constituency in the 2017 election. Aware that the party leadership may face brickbats from within the party and outside how a candidate who had crossed swords against the party has now been shortlisted as a candidate for the ZP polls, the District Committee has remarked that Royla had worked for the Congress candidate, Francisco Sardinha, during the 2019 LS election.
Royla, who is also ex-Sarpanch of Benaulim village and has been active in the agitation against the controversial western bypass, had finished second in the 2017 Assembly election, when she had contested on the AAP ticket, relegating the Congress to the third position.
Incidentally, it’s still isn’t clear whether the NCP Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao will field a candidate on the party banner. Churchill, who was holed up in Delhi is expected to come down to Goa and take a decision.
