In a sudden turn of political events, Nationalist Congress Party’s three probable candidates, including Cortalim candidate Nelly Rodrigues, George Barretto (Navelim) and Rakhi Naik (Sanguem) on Friday quit the national party to join the Goa Vikas Party along with their supporters.
NCP Goa unit chief Jose Philip D’Souza said he has nothing to say on the decision of the trio to leave the party. "They were told by the party leadership to wait for the next two days as news was expected on the Cong-NCP alliance." He, however, wished them the best in their endeavor.
Explaining the reasons behind her 'ghar vapasi' to the GVP, months after she had quit the party to embrace the NCP, Nelly said since the decision on alliance was not forthcoming and that news was doing the rounds that the NCP will get only two seats, her supporters told her to take a call and join the GVP. “When the Congress announced its candidate for Cortalim, my supporters turned panicky. There was hardly any time left for canvassing. After Lyndon approached me, I decided to return back to the GVP,” she said, while apologizing to her supporters for joining the NCP.
GVP newly-elected president Lyndon Monteiro lost no time to declare Nelly Rodrigues, George Barretto and Rakhi Naik as party candidates for Cortalim, Navelim and Sanguem respectively.
The trio’s decision is attributed to the dilly-dallying by the NCP leadership on the question of alliance with the Congress. The sudden decision to leave the NCP is being perceived as a smart move by the trio taking into account that the NCP may get at the most two seats in the event of an alliance with the Congress.
