Panaji (GOA) Congress seriousness towards the upcoming crucial by-elections in Panaji and Valpoi assembly seat was evident on Monday, when ten out of their 16 MLAs distanced themselves from attending the party’s election meeting.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) this morning held its first meeting under the new president Shantaram Naik to chalk out strategy for the scheduled by-polls. The by-elections will be held on August 23.
Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco, Ravi Naik, Francisco Silveira, Tony Fernandes and Wilfred D’Sa were the only six MLAs present for the meeting.
Senior Congress MLA Pratapsingh Rane has already announced to distance himself from the election related activities as he would not like to campaign against his son Vishwajit, who is contesting on BJP ticket from Valpoi. Hence, he did not attend the meeting.
When TNV tried to reach out to some absentees, some MLAs claimed to be travelling out of State, few said busy in constituency work, while some pretended to be exhausted with the recently held State Assembly business.
Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Jennifer Monserrate, Dayanand Sopte, Nilkant Halankar, Isidor Fernandes and Clafasio Dias were the absentee MLAs.
Interestingly, Congress Valpoi candidate Roy Naik, too was not present for the meeting. Panjim candidate Girish Chodankar was part of the meeting and claimed to have been receiving good response during his door-to-door campaign.
“Today is the fourth day of my campaign and I am receiving very good response. People are extending their support and I am confident about party’s win,” he told reporters.
Team TNV