AFTER A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES, SUSPENSE AT HIGH NOON, STILL IN THE DARK AT NIGHT

SATURDAY MORNING:

HOW ABOUT A MANIFESTO? Hariprasad asked to initiate discussions on the party manifesto. Ahmed bhai asks J S Brar, incharge of the Goa desk to give a report on the four unannounced seats with their comments.

OFF TO THE ‘CROWN’ TO GET THE CROWN:  The senior leadership gets into a huddle at Hotel Crown. Campaign Committee chief Pratapsing Rane, Chief Minister Kamat, new PCC boss Fransisco Sardinha and AICC bigwigs Brar, Sudhakar Reddy and crisis man Hariprasad get into a huddle in room number 318 to take stock, finalise the tickets and work on the manifesto.

INSIDE THE WAR ROOM: Discussions on Canacona: The Chief Minister indicates his preference for Vijai Pai Khot, the BJP defector. The others subtly disagree for two reasons.  A Khot in Canacona and a Sardesai in Fatorda would be an overdose of Saraswat Brahmins (not to forget Digambar himself in Margao). Secondly, giving a ticket to Khot who quit as MLA day before and was about to switch parties would be counter productive. By evening, Khot’s backdoor entry through NCP was almost finalized.

FATORDA: Chief Minister Kamat backed Sardesai. He said that he was always with him and this was a winning seat. Brar too said that winnability was important. Pratapsing Rane kept silent, so did Sardinha. Both said they would speak to Ahmed Patel and convey their views. Herald isn’t aware of what Sudhakar Reddy said.

MORMUGAO:  A genuine deadlock persisted. Sankalp Amonkar, initially believed to have been handpicked along with Pratima Coutinho as the Youth Congress representative found his fortunes linked to who the party would field as its Muslim nominee. Immense pressure from the All Goa Muslim Front to field a Muslim candidate, has forced the Congress to work a permutation to get both Amonkar and Saifulla in.

12 NOON: Rane, Brar, Reddy leave the Crown and head to an undisclosed location, possibly Rane’s apartment at Altinho. Brar tells Herald that he’s “going South”. Herald later learnt that they met Dr Wilfred D Souza.

12.30: Chief Minister, Sardinha, Hariprasad emerge. The first two leave, Hariprasad stayed back

EARLY EVENING: A consensus note on the undecided seats was sent to Ahmed Patel. This had views not hard recommendations.

Hariprasad, the main pointsman for the next two days spoke to Ahmed Patel.