MARGAO
The BJP and its South Goa candidate Pallavi Dempo are all set to enter Salcete during the weekend, but there's still no visible sign of the Congress either announcing its party candidate or putting its act together.
While Pallavi with party leaders in tow will visit temples and hold interactions with party workers from Fatorda, Margao and Navelim on Saturday, Margao-based Congress leader Savio Coutinho has dashed off a letter to senior party leader Rahul Gandhi over the stalemate on the party candidates.
In his letter to Rahul, Coutinho said, "It is extremely disheartening and disappointing for all the spirited Congressmen, and the general public/Congress sympathisers to notice the unwarranted delay in declaring the candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats of Goa.
"As we meet people, we face severe embarrassment trying to explain and justify by citing silly and different reasons for the delay in the announcement of the candidates," he said.
He added: "It is very important for the party leadership to realise that the South Goa seat in particular is definitely going to become a challenge for the party, with the entry of Pallavi Dempo as the rival candidate; and undue delay will compound the problems likely to be faced during the campaign. With the massive financial backing the rival candidate enjoys, the indiscriminate delay in finalising our candidates and stepping aggressively into the campaign, is most certainly going to affect the prospects of the candidate so decided."
Coutinho further stated that a very serious doubt is slowly creeping into the minds of the people, which doubt is most likely being fueled by the BJP to dissuade Congress workers and supporters from supporting the party and pulling them on their side. "An impression is being created that the delay in declaring the candidates is an internal understanding to facilitate the BJP in advancing ahead in their campaign. And hence, the finalisation is not coming through," he said.
Coutinho further said that the decision-makers within the party need to know that the BJP has everything on their side -- power, influential leaders and money power, which are the key ingredients for fighting elections. On the other hand, the Congress/INDIA bloc presently has the strong support of the common man who by all means wants to reject the BJP, he added.
"However, taking the people for granted, and expecting them to support the party as a matter of their responsibility, is definitely not right. The indecisiveness on the part of the leadership; which is now very much known to the public as infighting, being the cause for the delay, is eroding the sympathy towards the party.
"Our party should also realise that one fine day some aspirants will have to be declined the ticket, and delaying this day of declining somebody, is only creating a strong hatred towards their rival aspirants. This will eventually lead to half-hearted support to the declared candidate," Coutinho added. "The people of Goa will never forgive us if the seats, especially the South Goa seat, are given away to the BJP."
