MARGAO
As the Congress faces an uphill task to prove its numbers on the floor of the Assembly when the House meets on Thursday morning, The Goan gets digs deep to find out what went into negotiations and the turning points where the party lost out on the power equation.
There were at least seven Congress MLAs aspiring to take on the leadership of Congress Legislature Party with an eye on the Chief Minister’s chair before the BJP-GFP-MGP combine moved swiftly to cobble up the numbers to stake claim to form the government.
Secondly, the question that has come to haunt the Congress leaders is how Priol Independent MLA-elect Govind Gawde moved to the other camp after he was brought by Churchill Alemao to Panaji after the results.
It is learnt that Churchill and his close aide Elvis Gomes from Colva travelled to Priol constituency and convinced Gawde to be part of the Congress-led ministry. What prompted Gawde to move out of the Congress remains unclear, but one question doing the rounds in Congress circles is whether he had insisted on making Ravi Naik the CLP leader.
As the party went into a huddle on Sunday to elect their leader, a day after emerging as single largest party in Goa, there were the big names in contention for the top position. Those who set their eyes on the CM’s chair included the both the Ranes, Luizinho, Digambar, Shirodkar, besides Ravi. It is also learnt that party Curtorim MLA-elect Reginaldo Lourenco was also not averse in taking over the CLP mantle if requested by the party leadership.
If sources are to be believed, while the Congress leaders were holed up in Panjim, AICC general secretary-in charge of Goa desk, Digvijaya Singh and Congress leader Venugopal were believed to have called on Goa Forward party mentor, and Fatorda MLA-elect Vijai Sardesai in his apartment in the heart of the capital city on late Saturday evening. It is learnt that Digvijai’s proposal to Vijai Sardesai was simple: The Congress party was ready to accommodate him with a senior ministerial
