VIBHA VERMA
PANJIM: After the provocative crossfire in the initial stages between the Nationalist Congress Party Goa Unit and the Congress, the Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar’s party has left the electoral battlefield to the Congress and the BJP to fight it out, in both constituencies for the Saturday polls.
The NCP leaders proudly beat their chest declaring that their sacrifice is to “keep the secular forces together” and this will pay rich dividends in the future. But there is a minor sting in the tail ~ the NCP has struck a deal with its Big Brother vis-à-vis the next assembly elections on seat sharing. No matter if the Congress manifesto does not project either Ravi Naik or Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco as candidates of the Congress-led alliance, the NCP is hardly giving away anything on the deal.
NCP chief spokesman Trajano D’Mello told Herald that the party will not be forgotten by the voters as they know the sacrifice that they have made to keep the secular forces united. “We had bowed down to the sentiments of the people. We have made sacrifices and that’s why people will never forget us,” Trajano claimed.
The NCP leader, however conceded that they were not consulted while the Congress sat at the drawing board to draft the manifesto. Interestingly, Congress manifesto does not give credit or mention the NCP. This is understandable given that the two parties exchanged words on the public platforms and had decided to contest separately.
“We were not interested in the manifesto. These are just kept on the shelves on the eve of the election,” said D’Mello whose party had announced candidatures of Nilkant Halarnkar and Yuri Alemao, a little before they surrendered their North Goa seat to the Congress.
“We have joined hands with the Congress not because of the manifesto but to throw the communal forces out and that was the sentiments of the people,” he said. The NCP has been criticizing BJP more than the Congress, D’Mello added.
As is expected, there is lot of schism within the Congress, with leaders pressing the self destruct button, so Congressmen are rarely seen mentioning the NCP during their press conferences or on election platforms, unless of course the NCP leaders are physically present. The NCP candidate Jitendra Deshprabhu had lost to the BJP candidate by a very narrow margin votes during the last parliamentary polls in North Goa.
The Congress has refused to accept that they have sidelined the NCP. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Chief John Fernandes said, “They (NCP) are participating in our meetings. Nilkant Halarnkar (NCP State President), Avinash Bhonsle (NCP general secretary), Trajano D’Mello and Jose Philip D’Souza are sharing the dais with the Congress candidates,” he said.
But in the same breath, Fernandes added, “They have really worked although being a small organization with small audience. They also have small number of workers compared to the Congress,” he added.
Even as political observers claim that NCP while surrendering their North Goa seat to Congress has struck a deal vis-à-vis next assembly elections, the leaders are not in a position to talk about it.
The NCP has apparently asked for more seats of their choice for 2017 Goa State legislative assembly election. The current sacrifice was apparently also to adjust another seat in Karnataka where relative of party supremo Sharad Pawar is supposed to contest.
Meanwhile, a brave-hearted NCP has kept up the fire against the ruling BJP with party soldiers President Nilkant Harlankar and spokesman Trajano D’Mello releasing its daily dose of alleged government scams, code violations and dishing out ripostes to the BJP. Something the Congress itself has been unable to keep up to, through their press conferences.
