TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The AICC General Secretary Oscar Fernandes, was widely expected to dole out his “Oscar” awards to the expectant and increasingly frustrated senior Congressmen, expected to do well in their constituencies. However, at the end of the day, while newcomers into the party were busy campaigning in their constituencies, with party tickets in their pocket, “winnable” loyalists had to pitch their case with their supporters.

Ironically, Fernandes, who heads the candidate screening committee, told reporters “loyalty counts but winnability also has to be looked into”.

He had a busy day though. The action shifted to the International Centre to avoid people at the PCC headquarters where he had a series of meetings with Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, CCP mayor Yatin Parekh and the All Goa Muslim Forum.

When asked why there was delay in announcing the four tickets, Oscar said, “Well Congress party is so big that we have more than four contenders for one seat and hence there are bound to be some issues, which we are trying to sort out, but we have almost finalised them”.

On the resentment within the party workers over tickets to more than one person in a family, he replied, “well, we have gone through all these issues before and arrived at a decision that winnability is a bigger factor than just loyalty. It’s a decision taken after huge public demand”, he said.

Referring to denying a ticket to Victoria Fernandes, he said “we have not given her ticket that doesn’t mean we have sacrificed loyalty. Ticket was given to Babush as per public demand”.

On his meeting with the Muslim Forum, he said, “we are looking into their demands and will arrive at a decision shortly”.

“The party’s commitment is to accommodate all sections of society including the minorities. The same motto is applicable while giving tickets”, he said.

Later in the day, Oscar also had meetings with GPCC General Secretary Vijai Sarddesai, along with a huge number of supporters and members of the social fabric of Fatorda. Sardesai reportedly told him “I have worked for four-and-half years and waited for the party ticket. I’ll wait for four more days”.

He also had a meeting with the village groups on the Regional Plan. Interestingly, sources said, the group questioned him over giving a ticket to Babush Monserrate, who has allegedly taken Rs 26.58 cr bribe for illegal land conversions.