MARGAO: The people of Salcete are left in a quandary as their beloved Congress MLAs have fled the party which the people elected them on. The anger could be seen amongst the people. An audio clip of a conversation between a person from Verna and Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’sa (Babashan) made rounds asking him to return.
Everson Vales, former Nuvem Congress Block President, said, “As State Congress secretary I’m not at all surprised by the defection done by Wilfred D’sa as this move has exposed his non-genuine origins from the Congress. Sadly the good work which I had put in as Block President to build the party from scratch from 2013 after the fall of Aleixo has been shattered.”
“I had forewarned the pitfalls and dangers of giving the ticket to non-committed Congressmen to my leadership in 2017, but due to the false projection of public perception by few local opinion makers my State leadership was blinded in endorsing Wilfred’s name for Congress candidature at the election. People had no choice but to vote for Congress at that time,” he added.
“Till date, 24 months have passed with no formation of Congress Govt taking place but on the contrary Nuvem today suffers the embarrassment of having its first BJP MLA in office,” said Everson.
It was also being informed that several people from Nuvem constituency went to the house of Wilfred D’sa to protest against his decision of joining BJP.
Georgina Gama, Cuncolim Mahila Congress said, “Clafacio Dias is presently out of Cuncolim. Let him come back to Cuncolim and we will hold talks with him. He has been insisting that Goa Forward has been interfering in the development and works of Cuncolim and the pressure of people has been too much. We are not joining BJP along with him”.
Georgina was amongst the persons who had addressed a press briefing at Margao claiming that their MLA won’t ditch Congress for joining BJP.
Lester Fernandes, Vice President of Cuncolim Youth Congress, said “Clafacio has claimed that he is leaving the Congress and joining the BJP to usher in development and give jobs to the youth. Now what can we say. We have to see what he can do for the people of Cuncolim after taking this step. I am with Congress but supporting Clafacio. People are angry as well.”
Valentino Baretto, Deputy Sarpanch of Chinchinim, said, “Philip Neri Rodrigues our Velim MLA has not told anybody regarding this move. This must be his last resort as his phone is not reachable to his supporters and workers. I guess he has gone for a final settlement.”
