NT NETWORK
PANAJI
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Goa desk in-charge Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said that the party will declare its candidates for the upcoming Goa assembly polls on January 10.
Speaking to media persons after chairing the Goa Pradesh Congress Election Committee (GPCEC) meeting, Singh informed that the committee has short-listed the final list of probable candidates.
He said, “In today’s meeting we have made the list of probable candidates which will be sent to the screening committee for finalising. The meeting of the screening committee is scheduled to be held on January 4 at 11 am in Delhi and we expect the list of candidates to be announced by January 10 or 12.”
Singh further informed that the chairman of the screening committee KC Venugopal and members of the committee Bhakta Charan Das and Deepak Babaria attended the GPCEC meeting on Wednesday. However, they did not participate in the discussions.
Meanwhile, speculations of Santa Cruz MLA Babush Monserrate joining the Congress party gained strength as Singh visited the former Congressman on Tuesday late evening.
When Singh was asked about his visit to Monserrate, he said, “I had gone to wish him on his birthday.”
Choosing not to confirm or negate the speculations of Monserrate’s entry into the Congress, Singh only chose two words to every question on the Santa Cruz MLA, ‘let’s see’.
Sources in the party informed that the Congress is expected to re-induct the former minister who has already announced his candidature from the Panaji constituency.
Meanwhile, reacting to the former Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho and Cumbharjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar’s defection to BJP, Singh congratulated Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for welcoming the alleged tainted former ministers in the BJP’s fold.
