MARGAO
All eyes are focussed on the Congress leadership to decide on party candidates for the two crucial seats of Benaulim and Colva even as the Aam Aadmi Party has launched its campaign for the two seats in right earnest.
Take note, Congress mahilas “ Luiza Rodrigues in Benaulim and Venicia Carvalho for the Colva seat had kicked off their door-to-door election campaign since a fortnight now.
However, candidates for both the Benaulim and Colva seats found no mention in the Congress first list of 11 candidates declared by party chief Amit Patkar on Tuesday, throwing up speculation whether the party leadership is weighing all options before finalising the candidates.
In Benaulim, it’s now been a fortnight that Luiza Rodrigues, a former sarpanch of Varca panchayat, had been moving around with a dedicated team of Congress workers. Challenging Luiza for the Benaulim Congress ticket is former South Goa ZP Chairperson Maria Rebello, who has the history of representing Benaulim three times.
Sources informed that the party leadership is now weighing options between Luiza and Maria for the Benaulim seat. In this respect, The Goan understands that GPCC chief Amit Patkar has called for a meeting between the two claimants for the Benaulim seat to resolve the ticket issue amicably.
The Congress is also facing a similar situation for the Colva seat. Even as Congress worker Venicia Carvalho had kicked off her campaign for the Colva seat long ago, the race for the party ticket intensified after former South Goa ZP chairperson and four-time Colva ZP member Nelly Rodrigues expressed her willingness to contest the Colva seat on the Congress banner.
Against this backdrop, sources said both Benaulim and Colva seats did not find mention in the Congress first list of candidates, with party leadership hoping to settle the ticket tangle in a day or two.
