The equation has totally changed in the Navelim constituency with Luizinho Faleiro, after a long gap of a decade, has decided to throw his hat in the ring of the electoral battle scheduled for February 4 in Goa.

Since his shock defeat in 2007, Luizinho stayed away from Navelim constituency and was very happy managing the affairs of the Congress Party from Delhi. In fact, his total detachment from the Navelim constituency had resulted in his supporters and fans feeling totally lost and seeking any port to cling on to. 

In fact, Avertano Furtado who won the 2012 elections, was a known supporter of Luizinho Faleiro who emerged victorious largely because it was felt that he had inherited Luizinho’s legacy and was his rightful successor having worked with Luizinho for so long.

But Luizinho who is now holding workers' meeting, is himself quite surprised with the response as most of his old workers are back in his fold leaving Avertano high and dry. The turnout of workers at the meetings held on January 13, at Luizinho’s residence and workers meetings held at Fraudilem have been astounding.

Besides, large number of workers was present for the meetings at Davorlim and Rumdamoll, the two village panchayats which have large number of voters was impressive.

It is to Luizinho’s credit that his candidature has galvanized the Congress Block Committee in Navelim constituency, which otherwise was totally dormant for the last five years since the party’s candidate was defeated in 2012. Not only did the defeated candidate Churchill Alemao make any effort to activate the Block Committee, but he himself went straying seeking greener pastures and landed with the Nationalist Congress Party.

What is notable is that erstwhile Congress workers who had latched on to Avertano Furtado (see pic above) at the last elections have now jumped off the train to pledge not only their support but also their time and energy to Luizinho. 

As it was not clear who the Congress candidate would be in Navelim, many former Congress workers unhappy with Avertano’s association with the BJP had pledged their support to Edwin Cipru Cardozo. However, now with Luizinho stepping into the ring, they have deserted him and joined the stalwart to back his campaign.

Interestingly, both Avertano and Cipru have to depend upon support from the BJP to save their face at the elections. The BJP has already pledged its support to Avertano. However, many BJP workers who were looking forward to campaign for a party candidate this time, are unhappy with this decision and have now decided to back Cipru.

Whatever may be the results of the elections in Navelim constituency, certain things have been established. In the first place Avertano Furtado will not have a smooth sailing this time around and secondly the Congress is a galvanized unit ready to face the battle head on.