Ending the long impatient wait of the cadre, the Congress on Saturday finally declared former Union Minister Ramakant Khalap as candidate for the North Goa Lok Sabha seat and Captain Viriato Fernandes for the South Goa seat. The party will reportedly launch its election campaign on April 9, on the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa. This leaves the Congress party in Goa less than one month to get its act together in order to carry out an effective campaign. Be that as it may, the fight for the North Goa seat will now be between two veteran politicians in the form of a former Union Minister, Ramakant Khalap and a Minister in the present government, Shripad Naik. While in South Goa it will be a fight between relatively newcomers in the political arena in Pallavi Dempo and Capt Viriato Fernandes. It is left to the Goan electorate to choose wisely and elect deserving candidates to represent Goa in parliament. Incidentally Goan voters will not have the opportunity to choose between experience and newcomers. The votes polled by the Revolutionary Goan Party could tilt the balance either way.
