PANAJI
Apparently hamstrung by a general lack of resources, 'star campaigners' have gone missing from the campaign of the Opposition INDIA bloc's Congress candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats “ Ramakant Khalap (North) and Captain Viriato Fernandes (South) “ robbing it of the usual razzmatazz with barely five days to go.
Barring former Delhi legislator Alka Lamba, none of the national leaders from the list of 40 'star campaigners' have made it to Goa to canvass for support in favour of Khalap or Fernandes as yet. And, from among the handful of local leaders who find their names among the 40, outgoing Lok Sabha MP Francisco Sardinha who failed to make the cut for renomination too has conspicuously stayed away.
All three Gandhis “ Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra “ feature in Goa's list of 40 star campaigners but none of them are expected to make the trip to Goa. The Gandhis are known to have often pepped-up the party's past electoral campaigns in the State. Similarly, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is also not expected to visit the State before the May 7 polls.
No senior leader of the Congress in Goa were willing to offer any explanation for why their top leadership have evaded Goa from their national campaigning itineraries in the backdrop of the BJP peppering its electioneering fare with one rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the South and another in the North (expected on May 3) of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
"They are busy in other States. The poll schedule has been tailor-made to suit the ruling party. A lot of the States in our South Western region are going to the polls in the same third phase which has made it difficult for us to arrange the logistics for our top leaders to come to Goa," said a senior Congress functionary.
However, Leader of the Opposition, Yuri Alemao, told The Goan that some of the 'star campaigners' are expected to arrive in Goa from Thursday onwards.
"Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera are coming on Thursday," Alemao said.
He also disclosed that Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Sivakumar will also be coming to campaign in Goa.
Possibly, the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Telangana “ Siddaramaiah and Revanth Reddy “ besides Karnataka Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, may also come, he added.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Kumari Shelja had released the list of 40 ‘star campaigners’ of Congress in Goa nearly a fortnight ago on April 19. However till date, only Lamba made it to Goa thus far. On Tuesday, the former Delhi legislator addressed a press conference and also toured along with Mahila Congress chief Beena Naik, former CCP Mayor Surendra Furtado and other party cadres the sites in the capital city where ongoing ‘smart city’ work has left in total disarray.
The list also featured local leaders Girish Chodankar and South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, both of who were top contenders for the South Goa ticket where they ultimately lost out to Captain Viriato Fernandes. They, however, are conspicuously absent from the party campaign in Goa although Chodankar is in the North East where he holds the responsibility as AICC in-charge of some States.
Nonetheless, visits of Tharoor, Khera and the two most powerful politicians from neighbouring Karnataka “ Siddaramaiah and DKS “ among others, could inject the much needed glamour quotient and ground visibility to the campaign which has managed to thus far stay afloat solely on account of the visibly solid and united backing of INDIA bloc allies “ Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena-UBT and the Trinamool Congress.
