When Leader of Opposition Yuribab Alemao was leading the party and the Goy Rakhonn Yatra, social media was flooded with videos portraying the first-time Cuncolim MLA as “Goencho Fudar”. In fact, an impression has been gaining ground in Cuncolim and elsewhere that, since he is leading the party, Yuribab may be crowned the next Chief Minister if the Congress returns to power. Statements made by Congress desk in-charge Manikrao Thakare and GPCC chief Girishbab Chodankar that the Congress does not project anyone as its CM face assumes significance, particularly after Yuribab’s close aide and South District Congress chief Assis spoke about Yuribab as a possible Chief Minister, seemed to have raised eyebrows. You know why.
Pitru Paksha keeps Vijai quiet, Venzy keeps Goa First alive
It’s Pitru Paksha, considered an inauspicious period by many. Perhaps that is the reason Goa Forward chief Vijaibab Sardesai has maintained silence on the Goa First alliance. That, however, has not stopped alliance partner and AAP’s irrepressible Benaulim MLA Captain Venzybab Viegas from not only telling the world that the Goa First alliance is alive and kicking, but also inviting the Congress party to join the alliance. Billed initially as a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance, as espoused by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Venzybab now says that the alliance is open to all non-BJP parties. It indeed appears to be a calculated move after AAP and GFP faced a massive backlash in Salcete. At the same time, the two parties have thrown the ball into the Congress court, leaving it to respond. Wait and watch.
No retirement age, but what prompted Luizinho to take sanyas?
Former Chief Minister and long-time Navelim MLA Luizinhbab Faleiro’s decision to take sanyas from electoral politics has been a talking point in Navelim and beyond. Many had, in recent times, been urging him to rejoin the Congress and lead the party in the upcoming polls. That’s not all. His close supporters have always maintained that Luizinhbab is one politician who could have brought Navelim back into the party’s kitty in 2027, irrespective of the number of candidates in the fray. There are others who are still trying to figure out what prompted Luizinhbab to take sanyas from electoral politics when he himself had, sometime ago, said that there is no retirement age for politicians. Any questions?
Speculation grows as Subhash keeps Cuncolim question open
Is Cuncolim constituency an option for Social Welfare Minister Subhashbab Phal Dessai in the event that the Sanguem Assembly constituency is reserved for ST communities in the upcoming Assembly election? When scribes posed this straightforward question to Subhashbab, he declined to comment, leaving the decision to the party. What was observed by the scribes was that the Minister neither said yes or no to the question, only triggering speculation over whether Subhashbab will consider Cuncolim as an option to contest from in the 2027 Assembly polls. Wait and watch.
Carlos’ walk with Vijai at the old market raises eyebrows
Is there anything wrong with a Congress MLA, attired in the party’s ‘Goy Rakhonn Yatra’ T-shirt, walking alongside leaders of the Goa Forward Party in his hometown? Nothing wrong, one may say. But at a time when relations between the Congress and the GFP have hit rock bottom, Congress MLA Carlosbab Alvares apparently chose to tread a cautious path as the media attempted to click photographs of him walking alongside Goa Forward chief Vijaibab Sardesai and general secretary Durgadasbab Kamat at the Old Market earlier this week. Carlosbab was returning to his ancestral home at Old Market after he got down at the Old Market Circle-KTC bus stand road, which is being developed by Vijaibab as a Coconut Avenue. Any questions?
