the goan I network
MAPUSA
Call them the three musketeers who have come together to reclaim the lost ground for Congress in Calangute.
Once foes turned friends “ former Calangute MLA, Agnelo Fernandes, ex-sarpanch Joseph Sequeira and former sarpanch and current panch member Anthony Menezes “ have joined hands in this Zilla Panchayat elections and have hit the campaign trail with gusto along the coastal belt of Calangute.
Whatever may be their personal agenda, if the election buzz is anything to go by, the trio has managed to invigorate the Congress aficionados along the coastal belt and ring the alarm bells among the opposition (read BJP).
Calangute constituency will witness a three-cornered fight in the ZP elections between Dattaprasad Dabolkar who is re-nominated as the BJP candidate, Lourenco Silveira of the Congress and Manuel Cardoz as the choice of the Aam Aadmi Party.
For whatever reasons the coming together of the three leaders has managed to bring the Congress flock together and more importantly keep the BJP on edge.
Last week, when Ports Minister, Michael Lobo ate his own words and admitted the ZP polls are semi-finals to the assembly elections it was an acceptance that Lobo was facing the heat from the opposition Congress.
There has been no love lost between former Calangute MLA, Agnelo Fernandes and ex-sarpanch Joseph Sequeira.
In fact in 2012 assembly elections, Joseph Sequeira joined hands with BJP’s Michael Lobo to dethrone Agnelo Fernandes from Calangute
Subsequently, in 2017 Sequeira who contested as the Congress candidate in Calangute lost to Lobo. Agnelo Fernandes who was shifted to Saligao as a compensation for his sacrifice in Calangute also lost badly in that election.
Traditionally, Calangute had been a Congress citadel until Michael Lobo changed the dynamics by winning the seat for BJP during the anti-Congress wave in 2012.
Interestingly, in 2019 parliamentary election Congress candidate, Girish Chodankar had bucked the trend and managed to get a sizeable lead in Calangute.
According to former Calangute MLA, Agnelo Fernandes the main aim was to dethrone BJP in Calangute and any damage to Lobo in the process would be collateral.
“There is terrible anger against the BJP. The taxi-owners, shack-owners and traditional fishermen have been ditched by the local MLA several times. People are openly supporting the Congress this time,” Fernandes opined.
A political observer informed that people in Calangute did not want BJP but a section of the electorate was also not happy with the three leaders, who have made common cause and backed the Congress candidate, because of their past sins of omission and commission in the coastal constituency.
“With locals confused on whom to choose between the three candidates in the fray, migrants hold the key and that’s were BJP holds an edge,” the political observer said.
But the Congress remains undeterred and hopes the Goan votes will consolidate in its favour.
“If Goans stand together than the vote of migrants will not have any effect,” Fernandes said. Former sarpanch and panch member Anthony Menezes who owed allegiance to Michael Lobo in the Calangute Panchayat has openly thrown his lot with the Congress.
Sources have informed that quite a few panch members in Calangute and Candolim have been working behind the scenes and backing the Congress candidate.
With the three Congress leaders putting all their might behind the election campaign, Congress appears an enthused lot in Calangute but dethroning BJP with Michael Lobo at the helm will definitely not be a walk in the park.
