Team Herald
MARGAO: Will the third time prove to be lucky for Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, and give him the State Congress President’s crown?
The Congress MLA has been facing a streak of bad luck in recent times despite having been the vociferous and often the lone voice of the Congress in Goa since it was ousted from power in 2012.
Lourenco was first elected to the Goa Legislative Assembly on a Save Goa Front ticket, but the party later merged with the Congress and since then he has been valiantly fighting the battle for the party very valiantly.
He took on the task of contesting the Lok Sabha elections as the Congress candidate where though he ran a good campaign, he was doomed to lose. However, undauntedly, he carried on the battle very often being the only Opposition voice in the Assembly challenging the BJP stalwarts.
At the recent elections, he won with a thumping majority from Curtorim showing how popular he is with his voters and his performance in the House for the last five years, had many people hoping he would be the new Leader of the Opposition.
Congress, however, opted for Chandrakant (Babu) Kavalekar, even as Lourenco very mysteriously arrived late in the Assembly for the Speaker’s election where he was the candidate.
However, all may not be lost as sources says he is the frontrunner in the race for the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President post, as the party looks for a new face to take over the party reins and attract new and younger faces to take its programme ahead.
Among the challengers to the post is Girish Chodankar, the All India Congress Committee Secretary. However, both being committed workers and young at heart and knowing the pulse of the younger generation, it would be a welcome change for the party that is being perceived as harbouring old faces and not giving the younger lot a chance.
