Panic stricken Brar, Hariprasad land to face a sea of rebellion

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: An extremely worried Congress High Command, pulled its Goa incharge J S Brar out of Punjab along with old Goa hand Hariprasad to rush to Goa and face a sea of rebellion and a serious threat of losing its Muslim vote bank, in  the wake of a compete mess of the ticket distribution exercise.

From Mandrem in the extreme North to Canacona in the extreme south, Congressmen with a good chance of winning, dumped to favour “family candidates”, have walked out and are heading to parties like the Trinamool Congress where they have been promised tickets and dignity — not necessarily in that order.

“The whole concept of winnability has been turned upside down. People like Vishwajit Rane, muscle-flexed his way and got six tickets but almost everywhere powerful Congressmen have joined the Trinamool. We will see how winnable, his winnables are”, said a new entrant into the TMC.

Hariprasad, a former incharge of the Goa desk in AICC, pulled out his old contact book and dialed friend Anil Salgaocar, whose sons Samir and Arjun will be contesting — Samir on a TMC ticket and Arjun as an independent (thus far). Salgaocar told friend Hariprasad that the Congress has woken up too late to realise how much damage it has done  by ignoring those who backed the party and giving tickets in the first shot to BJP defectors and the Ranes, Alemaos and Monserrates.

The most not so delicious irony is that the new Congress working president Francisco Sardinha’s own son Shalom is set to be rebel contesting against the Congress’ candidate in Curtorim.

The crisis has deepened because in addition to the rebellion in seats already brewing, there are two Congressmen Sankalp Amonkar — initially chosen as the Youth Congress nominee by Rahul Gandhi — and Isidore Fernandes who are set to leave the party if they are not given tickets.

An AICC leader in the know of Goa affairs told Herald “They (High Command) relied a lot on the recommendations of the Ranes, but miscalculated the colossal collateral damage”.

Within the party there are clear lines forming. The group which spoke out against family rule is being isolated. Mauvin Godinho was appointed campaign committee head. Then, after the nominations began, they replaced fresh legs with old legs and brought in Pratapsing Rane, a further signal that the Ranes and other families had taken a vice-like grip over these elections.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has been overlooked in the ticket distribution process, with his nominations, Sankalp Amonkar and lately Vijai Sardesai being ignored thus far.

Another senior Congressman and GPCC General Secretary has been humiliated and toyed with, at the behest of the family satraps to extract revenge for Sardessai’s outspoken attack against family raj. It is now learnt that in a messy political twist, an olive branch has been offered to the Chief Minister by giving a ticket to his defector friend Vijai Pai Khot in Canacona, in lieu of him holding back support for Vijai Sardesai. It remains to be seen if the Chief Minister takes up for the Sardesai after announcing “no one can dare deny Vijai the ticket”.

Hariprasad and Brar had another shock waiting. The 1.5 lakh strong Muslim vote bank may switch sides, mainly to Trinamool Congress affecting the party in Mormugao, Margao, Ponda and Valpoi at the very least. TMC has given tickets to 2 and can even add two more. Its union mister Sultan Ahmad plans to camp in Goa to garner more support.

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, it is the Trinamool which is making new friends. And the Congress is losing old ones.