MARGAO
Newly-appointed Congress Working President Aleixo Sequeira on Wednesday said the Congress party had committed many mistakes in the past, especially in the selection of candidates, insisting that the party will choose candidates of character who will not jump sides after election.
He, however, conceded that the Congress has no inbuilt mechanism to put a stop to the party MLAs switching sides after getting elected under the party banner.
Fielding a volley of questions, the newly-appointed working president said the Congress is a secular party, which believes in taking all sections of the people together. “I believed the Congress is a secular party, which strives to bring all sections of the people together. Our aim at the moment is to get back all the forces which were pushed away or left the party due to certain reasons. We will strive to bring back all sections into the party fold and ensure that no section of the society feels alienated”, he said.
Saying that the Congress is an excellent party, which might have erred in the past while selecting candidates, Aleixo said the party will this time ensure that the candidates finalized to contest the eleiotn are of character, which will not jump sides after election. “These 10 people had jumped on the other side. This was the mistake committed by the party while finalizing the candidates. We will not repeat these mistakes”, he said.
While conceding that the party no mechanism in place to stop people from crossing over to the other side, Aleixo, however, said the party will have to check the character of the candidate, a candidate who will stand by the party and his voter before giving the tickets.
Asked whether there is any possibility of the party elevating him to take over the party reigns in the coming days, Aleixo said he has no such idea.
