MARGAO
As suspense continues over the Congress ticket for the South Goa Lok Sabha seat, ex-Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Girish Chodankar is reported to have bounced back in reckoning for the prized ticket to contest the May 7 polls for South Goa.
With the Central Election Committee of the Congress (CEC) scheduled to meet during the weekend in New Delhi to finalise candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats in Goa, a flurry of activity has been witnessed in the Congress party in the last two days, with the group opposed to the candidature of Girish Chodankar going in a huddle to discuss the emerging development and to ensure that the ex-PCC president does not get the ticket.
While the group opposed to Girish has maintained that the party should not depart from the time-tested norm of fielding a candidate from the minority for South Goa in order to give representation to the minorities in the political scheme of things, they are believed to have propped up the name of GPCC chief Amit Patkar in the event the High Command resolves to nominate a candidate from the majority community if demography is the criteria in ruling out the minority candidate for South Goa.
Even as the pro and anti-Girish groups are leaving nothing to chance in the game of one-upmanship for the battle for the South Goa ticket, the anti-Girish camp is on the job to verify reports doing the rounds whether a section of clergy have extended their support to Girish Chodankar. In this respect, the rival Congress group, sources said, had a day ago called on members of the clergy to verify the reports, after a prominent national Congress leader is believed to have claimed that Girish has the backing of the religious leaders.
The anti-Girish camp, however, is believed to have suggested to the party leadership to tread with caution to avoid giving an impression that the Congress party has taken the minority community for granted as the community will go without representation in the Lok Sabha polls in Goa for the first time in recent history in the event Girish is nominated for the South Goa ticket.
Sources further pointed out that the name of Girish has been propped by a section of Congress leaders on the ground that the ex-GPCC chief, given his background as hailing from the Bhandari Samaj, could be a better option in the event the BJP nominates industrialist Pallavi Dempo for South Goa.
Sources further informed that at least two of the alliance partners of the Congress are believed to have told the party leadership they have no objection if the Congress nominates Girish for the South Goa seat.
A senior Congress leader has informed that nothing can be ruled out as suspense over the Congress candidature for the South Goa seat continues. “The CEC was supposed to meet on Thursday, but we have been told that the meeting will now take place during the weekend,” the Congress leader said.
