MARGAO
Can the Congress gamble of nominating new faces in a majority of the seats in its bastion Salcete pay dividends in terms of seats, where eight seats are at stake?
Five new faces have been fielded by the Congress in the party minority stronghold, with the party re-nominating Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat and party veteran heavyweight Aleixo Sequeira in the remaining seats of Margao and Nuvem, respectively. Congress has conceded Fatorda to the Goa Forward Party.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Girish Chodankar has gone to the town defending and justifying the party’s decision of fielding new faces, terming the move as “generation next” Congress.
On the ground, however, the new faces are indeed locked in a fierce battle with established players, including former Congress MLAs who are now contesting on other party banners or as Independents.
In Benaulim, Congress nominee Tony Dias is on the battlefield where the Trinamool Congress MLA Churchill Alemao and Aam Aadmi Party candidate Venzy Viegas are locked in a royal battle. Both Churchill and his challenger Venzy had prepared the ground for the 2022 battle months ago, much before the Congress decided to contest for the Benaulim seat.
The only advantage Tony had over other candidates is that he had covered a lot of ground in Benaulim when he had initially decided to contest as an Independent and after embracing the TMC. That the Congress has settled for Tony’s candidature when it had an option to nominate flamboyant former MLA Mickky Pacheco indicates the party took the conscious decision to go for a new face even though the party was late in the electoral fray.
Another constituency that is the cynosure of all eyes is Curtorim, which was represented thrice by former Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco. The Congress leadership might have opted for Moreno Rebello after the party shut doors on Reginaldo when he offered to return to the party-fold after quitting the Trinamool Congress. The Congress, however, has a huge task at hand in its traditional bastion to keep the party flag flying high. Political observers say that Reginaldo Lourenco is back in the reckoning in Curtorim after he entered the fray as an Independent candidate. That explains why Congress has shortlisted Curtorim as one of the constituencies in the itinerary of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi when he descends in South Goa on Friday.
Congress leaders led by party chief Girish Chodankar, South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and others rushed to Velim constituency on Thursday in support of party new face Savio D’Silva. The Congress is pitted against seasoned campaigners such as former minister Filipe Nery Rodrigues who contesting on the Nationalist Congress Party banner, former Independent MLA Benjamin Silva seeking re-election and Aam Aadmi Party leader Cruz Silva. Though the party has fielded a new face, leaders know for sure that the party candidate is locked in a battle with Filipe Nery and Benjamin Silva, who have their vote-bank in Velim.
In Cuncolim, young Yuri Alemao is locked in a battle with Cong-turned-BJP sitting MLA Clafasio Dias. He has to also contend with the TMC factor with Dr Jorson Fernandes leaving no stone unturned to wrest the seat for the Mamata Didi-led party.
The Congress has fielded former Independent MLA Avertano Furtado in Navelim, where he is again locked in a multi-cornered contest with TMC nominee Valanka Alemao, AAP candidate Pratima Coutinho, NCP nominee Rejan Mujawar and BJP’s Ulhas Tuemkar. With both former MLA Luizinho Faleiro and former MLA Churchill Alemao, along with Navelim ZP member Cipru Cardozo rallying behind Valanka, the Congress has a task cut out to protect the party fort from crumbling in the ensuing polls.
