Discontentment brewing up amongst Fatorda Cong leaders

Discontentment brewing up amongst Fatorda Cong leaders
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, FEB 22  
Simmering discontentment is brewing amongst senior Congress leaders from Fatorda over their neglect by the party leaders on party matters in the constituency.
These leaders are particularly sore that even Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat and newly-appointed Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Subhash Shirodkar have virtually ignored their presence in Fatorda Constituency, while according importance to Vijay Sardessai.
A case in point was the recent party function held in Fatorda to welcome BJP mahila workers led by Shubada Naik into the party fold. The Chief Minister and the GPCC president along with PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao along with Sardessai were present in strength for the function, while prominent senior leaders were conspicuous by their absence.
Sources in the party said that party vice-presidents Luis Alex Cardozo and M K Sheikh were not invited, so was the case with former Youth Congress President Girish Chodankar.
Goa Pradesh Congress Mahila Chief, Monica Dias, who hails from Fatorda, was also conspicuous by her absence. While Sardessai had telephonically informed Monica about the function, sources said the Mahila Chief was never taken into confidence by Sardessai or the Congress leadership though the function was intended to welcome women into the party fold.
Incidentally, the Sardessai camp has sought to defend the omission of the senior Congress leaders from Fatorda by saying that the function was pertaining to women and was not block level Congress convention.
Sources in the know said the senior leaders including former Minister, Luis Alex Cardozo have not taken lightly the way party leaders are being sidelined vis-à-vis party affairs in Fatorda. It is learnt that some of these leaders have decided to officially lodge their strong protest with party leaders, including the Chief Minister, GPCC president and party high command.
Interestingly, the Fatorda Block Congress was hit by dissensions in the run up to the 2007 Assembly polls as most of the senior Congress leaders had opposed nomination of Vijay Sardessai for the party ticket.
With Sardessai literally running the show in Fatorda with the blessing of the Chief Minister, the GPCC president and the Alemao brothers, it remains to be seen how the party leadership deals with the discontentment amongst senior congress leaders in the constituency before the simmering discontentment bursts into the open as was in 2007.