MARGAO
Former Minister Mickky Pacheco on Saturday joined the Congress party in Delhi, the third politician from Salcete to embrace the main opposition party in the last one week.
After submitting his papers to AICC Goa desk in-charge Gundu Rao in the presence of Congress leader KC Venugopal, Mickky told ‘The Goan’ that he has impressed upon the Congress High Command not to go for an alliance with other parties, saying the Congress can win the ensuing 2022 Assembly on its own.
While saying he would move across the state in order to strengthen the Congress party, Mickky said that contesting the ensuing election is not his priority. He, however, hastened to add that the Congress High Command will field him in the constituency where Mickky has a base, hinting that he would return back to Benaulim constituency after a decade.
Asked of his chances from Benaulim if the Congress and NCP join hands to unitedly fight the BJP in 2022, a scenario that would leave the Benaulim seat to NCP sitting MLA Churchill Alemao, Mickky shot back “I have impressed upon the Congress High Command that Congress should go alone in the coming elections, especially in the Congress strongholds of Salcete and other talukas. Senior party leaders have agreed to my suggestion and I am confident the Congress will go it alone in its strongholds”.
He added: “Congress leaders, who have suggested for an alliance with like-minded political parties, are doing so for their vested interest and to indulge in horse trading after the election results. I am confident the Congress has the capability to win the election on its own”.
When asked if he would be ready to contest from Nuvem in the event the Benaulim seat goes to the NCP, Mickky shot back “I am ready to contest from any constituency suggested by the party leadership, but I am confident the Congress will not have truck with any other party in the election”.
To a question, Mickky said he and his family have always been Congressmen, but circumstances had forced him to take on the party in the past. He, however, said he would now work to strengthen the party, not just in Benaulim, Nuvem and Salcete, but across the nook and corner of the state.
Mickky said he also spoke to senior Congress leaders, including P Chidambaram, who has been recently appointed as the Congress election observer for Goa, besides senior leader Kamal Nath.
Mickky is the third leader after former Independent MLA Benjamin Silva and former Aam Admi Party coordinator Elvis Gomes to embrace the party in the last one week.
Mickky had made his political debut in 2002 from the plank of regional party United Goans Democratic Party and emerged as a giant killer after he ended Churchill Alemao’s decade and a half free run in Benaulim.
After retaining the seat in the 2005 by-election and the 2007 general election under the NCP banner, Mickky shifted to adjoining Nuvem constituency, where he got elected from Goa Vikas Party in 2012 after defeating Congress heavyweight Alexio Sequeira. Mickky, however, bit the dust in the 2017 election at the hands of Congress-turned-BJP MLA Wilfred D’Sa.
