TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: As the battle lines are drawn for the April 12 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress in Navelim has come under close scanner, with the BJP and the Trinamool Congress engaged in a ding-dong battle to gain supremacy in this Assembly segment.
Ask diminutive Navelim Block Congress Chief Conceissao Piexote, a close confidante of AICC general secretary Luizinho Faleiro, on the state of the Navelim congress, and don’t be surprised to find Piexote putting up a brave front to claim that the party would do well in the coming poll.
The ground reality does not inspire much confidence, with the Congress relegated to the background in Navelim after Churchill Alemao’s exit from the party. In fact, the battle lines appear to have been drawn between the BJP and Churchill’s Trinamool Congress s ahead of the April 12 poll, with local Congress workers trying to put the house in order.
With AICC general secretary Luizinho Faleiro pre-occupied in Delhi and Churchill walking out of the party to embrace the Trinamool Congress, the Congress ship has been left without a captain for the moment.
The former PWD Minister is believed to have taken with him his close aides and supporters, who till recently were holding the Congress/Churchill fort in Navelim. That Churchill is managing his election campaign from his Navelim office indicates that he has laid heavy stress on Navelim in the scheme of things.
Making matters worse for the Congress is the bare fact that the BJP has a sizeable presence, unlike many other minority-dominated Assembly segments in Salcete. That the BJP has played a decisive role in the Assembly polls in Navelim in 2007 and 2012 shows its growing clout in the constituency.
To add insult to injury to the Congress, independent MLA and Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado has joined the BJP bandwagon, when many in the Congress had expected him to remain neutral like Velim MLA Benjamin Silva. Reason: Many an analyst thought the Navelim MLA would play his cards well in the coming election as Churchill’s exit has virtually paved the way for his entry into the Cong, with Faleiro content in playing a role at the national level.
Avertano’s open call to the Navelim voters to back the BJP in the ensuing poll has set the stage for a close fight between the ruling combine and Churchill’s TMC, leaving the Congress to the background.
The Navelim Block Congress chief, however, says that all is not lost for the Congress. “People of Navelim have always supported the Congress. I am confident the silent majority of voters will stand by the Congress. We have put in place the booth committees which will play a key role at the booth level”, Piexote said.
Incidentally, Congress candidate Reginaldo Lourenco is also yet to make a big presence in Navelim till date, unlike the BJP, which had a workers meeting earlier this week and are bracing up to hold a public meeting in the constituency on Sunday. With time running out for the party to work as a cohesive unit, party workers have now pinned their hopes on Luizinho Faleiro to guide the party workers to get the much-needed lead in the segment.
