VASCO
In an unusual situation, King Momo paraded two Queens at the Vasco Carnival on Monday following a commotion over the Carnival Queen before the float parade began in the port town.
While the Vasco Carnival Committee had finalised Eva Fernandes as the Vasco Carnival Queen, another woman Adv Leona Barretto from Curtorim boarded the Carnival vehicle along with the King Momo and claimed to be the Carnival Queen.
The sudden appearance of Barretto claiming to be the Carnival Queen did not go down well with the Vasco Carnival Committee and members asked Barretto to step down immediately as the Vasco Carnival Committee had already finalised Eva Fernandes as the Queen and that she had already arrived at the location.
After an exchange of words, it was finally decided that Eva Fernandes would be the Vasco Carnival Queen while Adv Leona Barretto would be allowed to remain on the vehicle alongside the King Momo.
The sight of two queens added to the amusement among revellers, with many claiming that Vasco Carnival was a unique event where the King Momo had two queens on either side.
Later speaking to reporters, a member of the Vasco Carnival Committee said the Queen had to be from Vasco.
"The Queen must be from Vasco and is not selected by the Tourism Department. It is a procedure and after inviting applications, the King Momo is selected by the Tourism Department,” said the member.
“It was wrong for Barretto to claim that she is the Queen. We have no issues with the King Momo, but we insisted on having our own queen. We have been having our own Queen in Vasco for the last 25 years and this is not the first time. While the King Momo wanted to continue with the same queen, we refused to allow it. We finally got our Vasco Queen on the vehicle," said the member.
Another member Liby Mendonca said Carnival was a festival of joy and they did not want to have any disputes which would give the festival a bad name.
"We decided that no one should be left unhappy and hurt and finally both women were allowed to stand on King Momo’s float even though our Vasco candidate Eva Fernandes was the official Vasco Carnival Queen,” said Mendonca.
