the goan I network
MARGAO
The Congress seems to have been left high and dry as two-time former ZP member Domnic Gaonkar filed his nomination papers for the Raia Zilla Panchayat seat as an independent.
Around a week ago, the Congress leadership had planned to accord a warm welcome to Domnic Gaonkar in the party at the hands of GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar and Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat with the hope the two-time former ZP member would lead the Congress’ campaign for the Raia seat.
The planned media briefing to announce Gaonkar’s entry into the Congress at the South Goa District Congress office was postponed at the eleventh hour, with District Congress Chief Joe Dias saying Gaonkar will join the party at a later date.
On Saturday, however, Gaonkar, a two-time former ZP member and wife, sitting ZP Fatima walked into the Office of the Returning Officer-I Vishal Kundaikar and filed their nomination papers for the Raia seat as independents. While Gaonkar will be in the fray with the hope of playing his third innings in the ZP, wife Fatima has filed her papers as a dummy candidate.
Justifying his decision to contest as an independent, Gaonkar said the Congress was in two minds whether to contest the ZP polls on the party banner or not. “First, the Congress said the party will field candidates on the Hand symbol. The party changed the decision saying that it will not contest the polls on the party banner before again changing the decision. In the meantime, my supporters and workers had already decided to ask me to contest as an independent,” Gaonkar said, while saying that he could not go against the wishes of his supporters and workers.
Asked to comment whether he developed cold feet in contesting the poll on the Congress ticket after receiving threats from the ruling establishment that they would target his business interests, Gaonkar strongly denied the allegations, rubbishing the reports as false and baseless.
In the meantime, taken aback by Domnick’s decision to throw his hat in the ZP ring as an independent, the Congress leadership had no comment to offer on the episode. “What can I do if Domnic Gaonkar has filed his nomination papers as an independent,” was how South Goa District Congress President, Joe Dias reacted when his attention was drawn to the issue.
The Raia ZP seat has been held by the Domnic Gaonkar and wife Fatima for a decade and a half now, with Domnic holding the seat for two terms and wife representing Raia during the last five years.
