Q. Just before the elections you distanced yourself from the Congress Party. What were the reasons?
It is not true, in fact I was fighting within the party to make corrections to enable the party to form the government. The reason was that the Party President’s selected weak candidates to help the BJP and the results proved so. In 2012, an anti-Congress wave, four Congress candidates lost their deposits whereas in an anti-BJP wave twelve Congress candidates lost their deposits and another five lost by 5000 votes.

Q. There have been allegations against you of anti-party works. Party says you worked against their candidates in Aldona and Saligao. What do you have to say?
It is not true to say that I did not work for the reluctant candidate in Saligao. As far as the Aldona candidate is concerned, I definitely did not work for him but I did not work against him. The reason for not working was that the candidate was moving about with a leader who is an alleged molester, involved in the ticket gate scam and who was also a BJP agent who contested against the Congress candidate in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. I refuse to be a party to such scamsters leading the campaign.
Every candidate in the fray has written to the Party President about certain workers working against them. One of the Spokespersons attacked the Rane’s publicly for match fixing in the Mayem seat. He also filed a case against Ravi Naik. The Party President immediately promoted him as the Chief Spokesperson. In 2012 a person who was in the guise of the Regional Plan castigated the then Chief Minister Digambar Kamat is today made Chairman of Media Cell. Shri Luizinho Faleiro as Party President did not campaign for a single candidate. Have you heard of such non-action of a Party President? Is this not setting? These few incidents are an indication that the Party President is himself in a mode of anti-party activities.

Q. You joined Congress leaving NCP. You never cited reasons for taking such a decision.
I left NCP to join the Congress on the appeal of Luizinho Faleiro [who at that point of time I believed was honest] that all secular people should come under the banner of the Congress to defeat regressive forces.

Q. Recently you have been quite vocal against your former party state leadership. Where, according to you, did the Congress fail to form the government?
The Congress President’s behaviour and utterances are clear that he torpedoed a Congress government to be formed because he would not be the choice for the Chief Ministership. On March 9th, Congress President stated clearly that he would form a government with the help of MGP and RSS keeping GF out. Some points are already answered in Q2.

Q. Do you feel Party President Luizinho Faleiro had pre-poll ties with BJP? If so, elaborate.
It has become common knowledge that Luizinho Faleiro had a ‘setting’ with the BJP as I have stated above; Dr Francis Colaco publicly expressed the setting of Luizinho with the BJP, how the weak candidates were put and their fate sealed. The voting figures of every candidate speaks “has Luizinho Faleiro built the organization or ruined it”?

Q. Recently, Goa Forward party has offered you to join. Are you willing to?
I am seriously thinking and weighing the options before me. My choice at this juncture will be to choose the lesser evil.

Q. How do you intend to take the Serula Communidade land scam to its logical conclusion?
The present Revenue Minister who was making a big noise on the floor of the house on the Serula Communidade land scam has not uttered a word nor exposed what action he intends to take against Dilip Parulekar’s involvement in the land scam as per the High Court judgement and confirmed by the Supreme Court, that I succeeded in obtaining by a writ petition.
The Revenue Minister is confusing people by saying that Shri Kotwale has been appointed to inquire into Serula Communidade land dealings. The Minister should know that Kotwale’s appointment is for an inquiry on all land dealings in the Serula Communidade whereas in Dilip Parulekar’s land grab case there is no inquiry left as the matter has been decided by the High Court and confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Team TNV