MARGAO
As Congress youth leader Yuri Alemao got the prized party nomination for Cuncolim, edging out his challenger, Elvis Gomes in the battle for the Cuncolim ticket, speculation is rife whether the bureaucrat-turned-politician is being considered by the Congress leadership for the Panaji seat.
Yuri Alemao profusely thanked the Congress leadership for reposing their faith in him, saying he would leave no stone unturned to keep the Congress flag flying high with the support and blessings of the people of Cuncolim constituency. “The Congress is the only party which takes all the people together in the path of progress and development. I thank the party for nominating me for the Cuncolim seat,” he said.
The Cuncolim seat was in the past represented by Yuri’s father Joaquim Alemao for two terms in 2002 and 2007, before he lost the polls to the BJP in 2012.
Senior party leaders, sources said, have been in touch with Yuri’s challenger for the Cuncolim ticket, Elvis since Wednesday night. Sources said the party is not averse in nominating the bureaucrat-turned-politician in Panaji constituency as the party candidate.
When The Goan contacted Elvis to shed light on the emerging developments, he said he has left it to the Congress leadership to decide what is best for the party. “I am at the disposal of the party for any work. It is for the party to decide,” he said, when asked to comment on reports that the party leadership may nominate him for the Panaji Assembly constituency. He refused to comment further, only saying that the party leadership is seized of the matter.
Elvis Gomes had embraced the Congress party a couple of months ago after quitting the Aam Aadmi Party. After resigning from his position as Grade I officer, Elvis had made his political debut from his native Cuncolim constituency in the 2017 polls on the AAP banner as the party’s Chief Ministerial face. He lost the election, but political observers say the votes he had polled, mostly from the Cuncolim Municipal area, was enough to cause a division in votes, and the defeat of former Minister Joaquim Alemao by a slender margin of 30 votes, who had contested the polls as an Independent candidate.
The Cuncolim seat was won by the Congress candidate, Clafacio Dias, who later quit the party in 2019 to join the BJP.
