PANJIM: A section of Congress leaders clearly stated that the side-lining, humiliation and betrayal of Luzinho Faleiro is a serious issue and “anything can happen”.
On Thursday evening, Senior Congressmen Agnelo Fernandes and Yatish Naik had an impromptu meeting with sections of the media.
When questioned if Faleiro would leave Congress and join any other party as speculated, Fernandes replied, “In 1999, Luizinho brought nearly 21 seats to the party. That was the first time that Congress had the majority.”
“In 2012 after forming the government for five years, Congress was reduced to nine seats of which two left the party. Looking at this scenario the Congress High Command sent Luizinho Faleiro back to Goa to take charge of Goa Congress,” he explained
“In 2017, the Congress won 17 seats and also an independent MLA who supported Congress. After the counting, the Congress had nearly 21 MLAs with them and a letter was made ready by the high command to stake claim and form the government, that time it was Digvijay Singh who was in-charge of Goa, and Luizinho Faleiro was all set to give the letter to the Governor but it was leaders like Digvijay Singh, Chella Kumar who stopped Luizinho from handing over the letter to the then Governor saying 21 seats aren’t enough, we need at least 24 seats, that’s the reason Congress failed to form the government,” the former Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes said. “That is how we lost the government.”
He added that soon after this episode, senior national Congress leaders said if you remove Faleiro then the Congress can form the government within 24 hours.
After all these repeated insults and humiliation from the leaders it looks like Faleiro is not happy with the party, the party is being manipulated by one or two leaders, hence the loyalist and senior members of the party are being side-lined, Fernandes said. The speculation (of he leaving the Congress) is because of that.
“The party is being manipulated by one or two people and loyalists are being side-lined. It might lead to revolt, and anything can happen,” they added.
When questioned about two senior TMC leaders arriving in the State and if he will meet any one of them, Fernandes made it clear that he has not met any of TMC leader neither was he in talks with any of them. He, however, accepted the fact that he had met other party leaders. “But I have met IPAC. IPAC has met so many leaders,” he said.
With regards to Faleiro, he said, “He has always been a loyal Congressman, but I hope he is there with the Congress in the future, but he was always side-lined.”
Yatish Naik said, “I sensed that Luizinho isn’t happy with the Congress anymore because of the humiliation he has received all this time. However, we are Congressmen and will remain Congressmen, but we will support any call. There is speculation that even I (Naik) will be joining the TMC. I haven’t met any member of the TMC party.”
