TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The ticket finalisation exercise in the Congress camp is not yet over and Congressmen are keeping a close watch on the emerging developments in the party post Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) meeting.
Talks of new alignment of leaders came to the fore post PEC meeting, when senior party leaders including Chief Minister Digambar Kamat failed to put their foot down on claims for tickets by the Alemao and Monserrate families. Questions are raised within the party fora whether Kamat is planning to play another innings with the support of the Alemao and Monserrate families post elections.
Babush Monserrate’s threat to contest on his parent party, the United Goans Democratic Party, in the event Congress fails to nominate him and his wife Jennifer in Santa Cruz and Taleigao appears to have not augured well with a section of party leadership. What has left many a leader fuming is the stoic silence on the part of the leadership in responding to these threats, demanding to know whether the party leadership has allowed sitting ministers and MLAs to hold the party hostage.
Pradesh Election Committee’s decision to recommend the names of all the four members of Alemao family – Churchill, Joaquim, Valanka and Yuri for the Navelim, Cuncolim, Benaulim and Sanguem seats respectively – and the possibility of all four getting the party tickets, have also not gone down well with this section of Congressmen.
Reports that the PEC has okayed Valanka’s lone name for Benaulim seems to have stirred resentment amongst other aspirants in the race for the party ticket.
Benaulim Block Congress Committee President Edwin Barretto and District Congress vice-president Franky Sequeira along with Valanka were the five aspirants who had staked claim for the party ticket.
Media reports say, the fact that PEC has considered only Valanka’s name has left other aspirants fuming and are believed to have taken up the issue with party leadership.
Sources in the know said the Benaulim Block Congress President is believed to have contacted the party leadership, including GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar. It is also learnt that the party leadership has been asked to spell out the criteria adopted by PEC while rejecting names from the list of candidates.
