For the Congress, there are no easy options. Goa's ruling institution is really not a party in the true sense of the word.
Rather, it resembles a loose conglomeration of politicians hungry for power. This is not to say that there are no sincere people in the Congress; there are. But the sad reality is that most of them do not reach anywhere near positions of authority.
Nothing exemplifies this better than what the party's top leaders in Goa ( and India) have to say about how they choose candidates for the elections. The Congress's self- proclaimed sole criterion for awarding election tickets is… Winnability! Does nothing else matter? What about ideology or philosophy? Or, if those seem too grand- sounding, how about plain loyalty? Apparently, even that is not good enough, ironically, in a party that revolves around one single family. Winning, we are told by the leaders of the party itself, is everything. Does nothing else matter? Apparently not. For, after candidates were shortlisted for the upcoming assembly polls in Goa, Congress ministers and MLAs have been heavily pressurising and even blackmailing the Congress High Command emissaries to Goa, and making open threats about staging revolts if tickets are not given to members of their family and to close friends.
Whether it is PWD Minister Churchill Alemao, who wants his daughter Valanka to get the Benaulim ticket, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao, who wants his son Yuri to get the Sanguem ticket, Education Minister Atanasio ' Babush' Monserrate, who wants the Taleigao ticket for his wife Jennifer and the Santa Cruz ticket for himself, or Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, who apparently wants to decide who gets the Congress ticket for seven constituencies in North Goa, the family- run party is having a hard time trying to please its ' family- oriented' leaders.
And while All India Congress Committee ( AICC) Goa desk incharge J S Brar, AICC general secretary Sudhakar Reddy and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat try to make light of the situation by claiming that the ongoing ' discussions' are to give feedback on the alliance with NCP, on political issues, and to brief them about important political developments, it is no secret that some leaders have threatened to quit the party if their demands are not met. Babush Monserrate, for example, is believed to be opposed to the entry of BJP MLA V©¦ay Pai Khot into the Congress and has demanded tickets for wife Jennifer and former Congress Poinguinim MLA Isidore Fernandes. Mr Monserrate has already made it clear that if the Congress denies him the Santa Cruz ticket he will quit the party. The Alemao brothers have already openly announced that if their children are denied Congress tickets, they will contest on the ' people's ticket'. Even if the Congress says it doesn't, we all know what that means.
To add to its misery, former Congressmen are girding their loins to float political outfits with nuisance value for the party. Former Benaulim MLA Francisco ' Mickky' Pacheco on Saturday joined the Goa Vikas Party ( GVP). He was declared the party's ' supremo' by its central executive committee, and he promptly declared himself the GVP candidate for the newly delimited Nuvem assembly constituency.
Three- time Chief Minister Dr Wilfred de Souza has set up a Goa branch of Mamata- didi Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, just as he earlier has started the Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP). It iks another matter that he was ultimately ignominiously ejected from it.
Both Mickky and Dr Willy have little chances on their own, but can be extremely effective spoilers.
It seems the Congress has more to fear and much to lose from the skulduggery of its own disgruntled elements, rather than from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP).
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