DECISION IN DELHI-------------------------------------------
>> While the suspense will be over on March 16 when Central Election Committee (CEC) headed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi meets in Delhi to decide on the candidates
>> Will CEC decide on Sardinha and Pratima, but still consider the name of Girish Chodakar, whose name was shortlisted with Khalap for the North Goa Seat
MARGAO: Even as the Congress screening committee in Delhi is believed to have shortlisted the names of former three-time MP Francisco Sardinha and Mahila Congress Chief Pratima Coutinho for the South Goa Lok Seat, many a question, however, still remains unanswered, leaving the front runners with no option than to keep their fingers crossed.
While the suspense will be over on March 16 when Central Election Committee (CEC) headed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi meets in Delhi to decide on the candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats, one question that did the rounds in Congress circles was whether the CEC will decide amongst Sardinha and Pratima, but would still consider the name of the GPCC Chief Girish Chodakar, whose name was shortlisted by the Screening committee along with former Union Minister Ramakhant Khalap for the North Goa Seat.
Sources in the know said the GPCC Chief may have preferred his home constituency in South Goa as his first choice if given an option by the party high command. Sources, however, said that the Rahul Gandhi headed CEC may take a fresh look at the list of candidates for the South Goa seat, though the screening committee has given its nod for Francisco Sardinha and Pratima Coutinho.
Sources did not rule out the possibility of party high command taking a call on the candidature for the South Goa seat by assessing the ground reality to ensure that the party wins both the North and South Goa seats. The party is also expected to take the call whether it can risk departing from the well established norm of nominating a candidate for the minority candidate for South and leaving the North Goa seat for the candidate hailing from the majority candidate.
In the meantime, sources in the know said the name of High Court lawyer, Adv Cleofato Coutinho reportedly did not find favour with the screening committee on ground that he had joined the Congress only late last year and has not been actsive in the party forum unlike the other contenders.
It is learn that reservations were raised by some members of the Pradesh Election Committee to Adv
Coutinho’s candidature by seeking to know his membership of the party. Adv Coutinho had merged as a strong contender for the south Goa seat after he had received the backing of a group of MLAs headed by the Chief of the Congress campaign committee MLA DIgambar Kamat.
It is learnt that as many as five of the Congress MLAs from South Goa had extended his support to Adv Cleofato’s candidature, but his candidature did not reportedly receive the support at the Congress screening committee meeting.
That Adv Cleofato’s candidature did not find favour with the Screening panel was evident by the fact that supporters of the Digambar Kamat were apparently unhappy with the decision, saying that the High Court lawyer would have been a formidable candidate for the Congress in South Goa.
