TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The cup of discontent among Congressmen is flowing over. And has even spilled on the corridors of the Congress party headquarters in Panjim which is full of second rung leaders, as senior leaders are either in their constituencies or on a plane to Delhi to lobby.

On Friday, many Congressmen, in the party for years, were openly bad mouthing Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Subhash Shirodkar for going into the polls with defectors rather than loyalists. While this refrain is not new, reporters on a visit to the GPCC were shocked at how most of these Congressmen were so vocal in their criticism on Kamat and Shirodkar. While the customary request was made not to take their names, there was no holding back when it came to speaking their minds. All this, just a couple of days before the central election committee of the All India Congress Committee (AICC)  meets to decide on the Goa tickets.                                     

In the line of fire is also Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, who they claim is misleading the party high command on the winnability factor. “We had been claiming for the last one year that we can go all alone in the next elections as we have candidates in all 40 constituencies but suddenly the top leaders are importing candidates from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to fight elections,” said one Congress office bearer, who did not want to be named.

Another Congress loyalist, pointing to the induction of Rajesh Patnekar and Dayanand Sopte questioned the need to bring in people from other parties “ when there are several people in the party itself?”

“When will the loyalists get a chance then?” they asked.

Babi Bagkar, Vijay Sardesai,  Daya Pagi, Naresh Sawal, Ramakant Khalap, Isidore Ferandes, and M K Shaikh are some of the leaders who expect tickets and barring Sardesai, Isidore and Khalap, the others are pretty much ruled out of the race. Of this lot, Isidore is the only one whose loyalty tags wears thin since he did defect from the patty to come back.

The loyalists say that the chief minister and the GPCC president have always been misleading the high command.

“The central leaders have no clue who is a winning candidate and who isn’t. It is just these people who pick their men and take them to to Delhi to project them,” they said adding, “Recently the CM and Shirodkar have started supporting people who are involved in mining so that the industry gets more representation in the assembly.”

Another aspirant, who has been vying for a ticket a third time says, “Every time I am told next time but that time never comes and we will not be silent spectators this time.”

“We have given everything to the party and we are here for the love of the Congress, not like these people who jump from here to there,” he said adding, “The loyalists will inform the screening committee chairman Oscar Fernandes about the games the local leaders are playing.”