MAPUSA: The anticipated or speculated move of Calangute MLA and Science and Technology Minister Michael Lobo joining the Congress seems to have hit a road block as the Calangute Block Congress Committee firmly resisting the move. Former Union Minister and All India Congress Committee (AICC) election observer P Chidambaram on Friday said that he doesn’t know anything about him joining the Congress.
"I don’t even know who the local (Calangute) MLA is. Why are you asking me this question? How do I know who the local MLA is? I know only Congress people," said Chidambaram in a terse statement to the media.
Asked about what happened about Lobo joining the Congress, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar said, “Nothing happened. The (Calangute Congress) candidate will be decided by the Calangute Block Congress Committee.”
Congress leaders, including Chidambaram were at Calangute to interact with the members of the Calangute Block Congress Committee.
Addressing the workers, Chidambaram said that the Block Congress Committees will decide the candidate and requested the committee to enrol more active members. He said that the Block had enrolled only 174 active members i.e. five active members per booth. “How you can win elections with only five active members per booth?” he asked.
Former Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes, who is bete noire of Lobo, underlined that the name of the Calangute Congress candidate will go from the Block. “No one (candidate) will come from outside,” he added.
The two-time Congress MLA stated that all the three probable Congress candidates from Calangute are together, irrespective of who gets the party ticket. “Loyalty and integrity are paramount, of course we all have winnability,” he stated.
Later, addressing the Panjim Block Congress Committee members, Chidambaram apologised for what happened after 2017 elections and 2019 by-polls. He said that the elected Congress MLA betrayed the voters and defected for greener pasture. He assured the workers that the sad chapter will not be repeated in 2022 elections.
Chidambaram said that the candidate for the ensuing elections will be decided by the Block Committee based on loyalty, integrity, acceptability to workers and winnability among the electorate.
Kamat, Chodankar and former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes also spoke. Gomes said that the elected party MLA betrayed the trust reposed by the Panjim voters and said that the people should stop multiplication of families in elections. He also appealed to all to set aside their differences and to come together to march forward.
During the meeting, two members complained that they were not receiving message from the Block committee. But Chidambaram assured them he would look into the matter and to solve it.