the goan I network
VASCO
When rival party leaders meet on any occasion especially ahead of elections, eyebrows are raised and speculations run thick and fast.
This was no different when Goa Forward Party Office Bearer Durgadas Kamat was seen discussing with former BJP member Krishna (Daji) Salkar, while they wished Congress Minority Leader Saifulla Khan at his residence at Vasco on Saturday afternoon.
Though the occasion was Eid celebrations, the visit of Kamat all the way from Ponda to wish Khan at Vasco along with Salkar was sufficient to fuel speculations in the port town.
Sources disclosed that the three leaders spoke at length about the current affairs and issues plaguing Vasco and the general political scenario of the state.
While it is a well known fact that former minister and State NCP President Jose Philip DSouza has cordial relations with TCP Minister and Goa Forward Party supremo Vijai Sardessai, some expressed surprised that while Kamat met Salkar and Khan, he did not meet D’Souza while he was in Vasco.
Sources said Kamat had plans to proceed from Vasco to Mayem to meet a leader who had recently joined Goa Forward Party, causing speculations that Kamat was a political emissary on a visit to Vasco to try and shortlist a leader for Goa Forward in the port town ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
It may be recalled that Khan and Salkar had both contested assembly elections from Vasco constituency in the 2017 assembly elections. While Salkar, a staunch BJP member, had revolted against the party over the BJP candidature for assembly election, Khan was declared the Congress candidate from Vasco just a few days prior to elections, after an alliance between Congress and NCP had failed.
