TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Congress screening committee meeting to be held tomorrow in Delhi under the chairmanship of Vayalar Ravi will see the state unit president John Fernandes and leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane likely to discuss the top contenders – including Luizinho Faleiro and Vishnu Wagh – for the north and south Goa Lok Sabha seats.
Also the State unit will have to explain its position as to how it could discuss the prospect of fielding a BJP legislator, at its CLP meeting and the rationale for backing a non-sitting member.
Discussions at the CLP included the name of rebel Congressman and now BJP St Andre legislator Vishnu Wagh for the North Goa seat and heavyweight Luizinho Faleiro for the South Goa seat, sources said.
Reports have already said that for the North Goa seat the name of Wagh has already been sent as an additional one to the Congress three.
Faleiro, a CWC member and also general secretary AICC has repeatedly denied being in the running – especially given that the Congress has a history of re-nominating its sitting MPs. But given the pressure on the party and statements being made of new faces being given seats nothing can be ruled out, say party insiders.
However, Faleiro has a history with Varca strongman Churchill Alemao who had sent him on a political trip to the Centre after defeating him in the previous (not 2012) assembly elections in his stronghold Navelim as well with another local heavyweight Aleixo Sequeira.
However, both Churchill and Sequeira lost the 2012 assembly elections in which the Alemao family was decimated by the anti-Congress wave that swept the State reducing the once dominant party to single digit.
Wagh was a Congressman who shifted – ostensibly on the MoI platform – and won from St Andre, also riding on an anti Congress wave.
However, given that both Shripad Naik the sitting BJP MP and Wagh come from the OBC community with a sizeable presence and anti-incumbency weighing heavily on Naik and that Wagh is a fiery speaker, there could be a fight in the cards
