the goan I network
MAPUSA
Congress candidate, Anatasio (Babush) Monserrate, hinted that Goa Forward Party could be part of the Congress-led alliance government in the State soon after the May 23 election results are announced.
Responding to a specific query from The Goan that Congress in the past could not see eye-to-eye with Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai, the Congress candidate for Panaji bypoll replied: “The Congress did not have a good relation with me either. They were criticising me too. But we are part of a family. I had differences. Now, I am the arbitrator between the two,” Monserrate said.
Monserrate said Congress was in no mood to destabilise the present setup, but only asked that people’s mandate be restored.
“We are not destabilising anyone. We only call to give legitimacy to the mandate the people of Goa had given,” he said, while speaking to journos outside the polling booth in Altinho.
He disclosed that the number game in forming the government was no big deal and gave a sense that everything
was in place.
“All numbers are in place and will be in place when time comes,” he said.
Babush agreed that absence of late chief minister Manohar Parrikar was a big setback for BJP and its campaign in Panaji.
“When they came to know they were losing ground, as a last resort they began asking votes in the name of Mr Parrikar,” Monserrate revealed.
He said the BJP were now challenging the decisions taken by the former CM indicating that those decisions were wrong.
“If the decisions of the
former CM were wrong, then why did they not raise it up when he was alive?” he asked.
The Congress candidate also said that the personal allegations leveled against him during the ongoing campaign of by-election will have no impact on his prospects.
“My matter is in court and I will fight it out in court. If the government had gone by the Supreme Cout guidelines, I would have been free by now. It is their problem. They just wanted to flog a dead horse,” he said.
Babush thanked the voters of Panaji for coming out in large numbers and exercising their right to choose who they will like to lead them for better Panaji.
