Veteran politician Luizinho Faleiro hit the headlines earlier this week for the wrong reason. He resigned as Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal.
After surprising many in the runup to the last Assembly elections with his drastic move of severing his long ties with the Congress and embracing the Trinamool Congress, the warhorse of many a political battle finally threw in the towel in the back-channel cold war between him and his new party.
According to insiders in the Mamata Banerjee led party, the temperamental West Bengal Chief Minister was livid that Faleiro defied her writ and refused to contest from the Fatorda seat against Vijai Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), who had reportedly also snubbed her at the eleventh hour by refusing to merge with the TMC to be the CM face.
Since February 2022, at least two senior leaders of the TMC are said to have directly conveyed to Faleiro that 'Didi' has asked him to resign from his post which was accorded to him with the party bending backwards to ask Arpita Gosh to resign and create the vacancy. More than a year later, he has grudgingly obliged although his typically flowery statement showers praise and gratitude on 'Didi'.
Faleiro has stated he will not join any political party as of now but he is not willing to hang his boots yet. The 71-year-odd veteran is convinced he still has some more "sunset" years of public life in store.
Even if the promised "new dawn" has proved elusive, why should anyone take away the sunset from him? His next move will be closely watched.
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Cong confabulations and
the missing Yuri-Altone duo
Close on the heels of the Luizinho Faleiro resignation from the TMC, the Congress held a sudden, high-level meeting of its core political committee with the new desk in-charge Manickam Tagore at the helm. While the official agenda for the meeting was stated to be the party's preparations for the upcoming Sanquelim and Ponda civic elections, the Faleiro development did find its echo there.
But more than all the official discussions that were held, the meeting drew the attention of observers and journalists for the absence of two of the party's three legislators -- Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and Quepem MLA, Altone D'Costa.
If whispers of some of those who attended the meeting are to be believed, the unexplained absence of the Yuri-Altone duo had quite a few tongues wagging, especially at a time when their third legislator, Carlos Ferreira Alvares has come under attack from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is itching to steal the political turf from the grand old party.
In the absence of the Yuri-Altone duo, meanwhile, it was left to the South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha and Alvares to hold forth before Tagore who is yet to find his feet over the party's Goa affairs where a round of shadow-boxing many say is raging between the current GPCC president, Amit Patkar and his predecessor Girish Chodankar. A bout which has spilled over into the High Court where both are fighting to get the eight Congress defectors disqualified.
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Big losses for Goa's
sports fraternity
Goa's sporting fraternity is going through a rather horrid time. Four well known sports personalities -- Antonio Rebello, Menino Figueiredo, Roque Dias and Jaju Fernandes -- breathed their last and at least three of them still in the sixties.
First it was the burly built football defender from Curtorim Antonio Rebello. This Salgaocar Sports Club stalwart of yesteryears had been a source of terrible fear for strikers, especially for those from Goa's archrivals Bengal. For many of us growing up in the 1970's and '80s watching football matches from the rickety stands of the Bandodkar grounds in Panaji, Rajendra Prasad stadium in Margao or the Tilak Maidan in Vasco, he was a giant in defence and a prolific scorer with a lethal header from corner kicks.
Rebello's passing away was followed by that of another football great of the past, Menino Figueiredo, who captained Goa's first Santosh Trophy team. Hardly had the tears dried up over his death, came the news of the demise, on Easter Sunday, of Roque Dias, arguably Goa's highest ranking sports administrator. A badminton star between 1975-82, Dias scaled the heights of India's sports administration ladder and retired as Executive Director of the Central government's apex sports body -- Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Last but not the least, Jaju Fernandes, succumbing to a massive heart attack was yet another shocker. Many know him for his exploits on the Konkani stage but very few know of his contribution to Goan football, other than being dad and mentor to Goa's current football torchbearer -- Brandon Fernandes. For decades though, Jaju has been a silent, behind-the-scenes organiser in Goa's football scenario and an integral part of several GFA managing committees.
Hopefully these gems by their sheer grit and hardwork, have inspired others to step in and shoulder responsibilities, if only for the sake of Goan sports and the fraternity.
Good night sweet princes of Goan sports!
