PANAJI
The suspense over the choice of candidates for the South Goa seat of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress continues as the central decision making bodies of both the national parties skipping Goa from their agendas in meetings held in Delhi earlier this week.
The Congress' Central Election Committee met on Monday in Delhi to finalise its candidates in several States, it skipped Goa where the party is yet to name its nominees for both the seats.
Ditto with the CEC meeting of the BJP held late on Monday night which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It again skipped Goa where the saffron party has already announced it was retaining five-time sitting MP Shripad Naik for North Goa but has deferred naming its nominee for the South Goa seat which it is keen to wrest from the Congress.
BJP sources said, the announcement of the candidate for South Goa may now take place in the third list.
Former MP Narendra Sawaikar and former Deputy Chief Minister, Chandrakant Kavlekar, are said to be neck-and-neck in the race for the party nomination after the party has dropped the idea of scouting for a woman candidate for lack of a winnable face, the source said.
In the Congress camp, meanwhile, source said the sitting MP Francisco Sardinha is a natural contender but Captain Viriato Fernandes and former GPCC president Girish Chodankar are also lobbying hard to get the nomination. For the North Goa seat, former Union minister Ramakant Khalap is the favourite with the party's general secretary Vijay Bhike also in the zone of consideration.
Experience and electoral reach are working in favour of the two veterans -- Sardinha and Khalap -- but the general sentiment in favour of younger, fresh blood is weighing against them, a senior party leader said. Also, the Khalap-Sardinha duo are better placed to garner electoral support in a situation where the Congress' ground organisation is in shambles, he added.
