the goan I network
PANAJI
The chances of rival claimants to its ticket in Mandrem rebelling and entering the fray as Independents, is what is pushing the Congress to delay making the announcement of its candidate for the seat, top party leaders said.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president, Girish Chodankar, however, claimed that it is for the party’s CEC to make the official announcement from Delhi which could come any time now.
Former Union law minister Ramakant Khalap is the top contender for the nomination but his claims are being hotly contested by two other aspirants, Babi Bagkar and Sachin Parab who is the son of former minister Sangeeta Parab.
Mandrem is the only seat from the five going for polling on April 23 in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls, where the party is yet to announce its candidate.
It has thus far announced the names of Chodankar for North Goa and former chief minister Francisco Sardinha for South Goa Lok Sabha seats. The party has also nominated Sudhir Kandolkar for the Mapusa Assembly bypoll and that of former minister Mahadev Naik for Shiroda.
On Friday, the day the party announced the names of Kandolkar for Mapusa and Naik for Shiroda, supporters of Bagkar and Parab converged at Congress House in Panjim and began sloganeering against Khalap after getting a sense that the party is leaning towards nominating him.
