Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: From shortlisting two names for North Goa and four from South constituency and then back again to adding up more names for both the constituencies, following intense pressure from the INDI alliance partners, Congress’ internal politics in the state unit seems to be delaying the finalisation of its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls.
While BJP’s Shripad Naik and Pallavi Dempo has already started poll outreach, Congress is yet to announce a candidate to take on the saffron party.
Delay in finalizing a candidate is being seen by political analysts as Congress giving early advantage to BJP- who has fielded a woman candidate for the very first time in its history from South Goa.
While Congress leaders and its allies were seen criticizing and slamming BJP for “importing” a candidate- Pallavi Dempo- party has now been mocked across for failing to finalize a candidate- even though it had started the process to shortlist candidates almost three months back by inviting applications from the probable Cadres.
In North, though the initial fight was between former Union Minister Ramakant Khalap and Vijai Bhike, GPCC general secretary Sunil Khawatankar has now entered into the race on high demand of his alliance partner- GFP.
In South, though the party has its sitting MP Francisco Sardinha- the GFP is against giving him the ticket, while there is strong opposition to Girish Chodankar candidature with workers threatening to go for mass resignation.
Now those on fray are GPCC Chief Amit Patkar, LoP Yuri Alemao and Captain Viriato Fernandes.
Meanwhile, the AICC has delayed the announcement of two candidates even after the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) on Wednesday night cleared the names and forwarded the list to the AICC President.
When contacted, GPCC President Amit Patkar on Friday said that declaration of names has been delayed till Sunday as another round of meeting is scheduled on Sunday with some CEC members.
“We may leave for Delhi or join the meeting via zoom,” he added
The Congress’ election managers have learned that Alemao has some connections in the hinterland because he lost a close race in the Sanguem constituency ten years ago. At the time, he had narrowly lost the assembly election.
Without a doubt, Sardinha and Chodankar are connected in that belt as well. In the mining belt, the Alemaos are well-known due to their involvement in the mining industry. In addition, Alemao is viewed as having a better chance of holding onto the seat because he has been an active member of the assembly for the past two years and is a younger candidate.