NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Congress’ offer of forging a grand alliance with the United Goans Party, the Goa Forward Party and the Nationalist Congress Party did not reach a consensus on seat-sharing on Wednesday till late in the night. An announcement is now expected on Thursday, January 12.
Sources said that UGP leader and Santa Cruz MLA Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai held a series of meetings with senior Congress leaders on the agenda of seat sharing, but a final decision could not be reached at as the two parties have not been happy with the offers made to them.
A senior Congress leader from Delhi told this daily that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been briefed about the developments and a final decision on the alliance and seat sharing will be announced on Thursday after final consultations with representatives of all the parties.
Central election committee of the Congress on Tuesday had finalised a list of 34 candidates and offered two seats each to the UGP, the GFP and the NCP.
The CEC had offered Panaji and Taleigao constituencies to the UGP, while the NCP was offered Vasco and Benaulim seats and the GFP had been offered Fatorda and Porvorim.
However, the bone of contention has been Cortalim constituency, which the UGP as well as the NCP have staked claims and the Congress has its own plans of nominating a Congressman.
The other contentious seat has been Velim, which was earlier represented by Congressman and former water resources minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues, but the GFP has staked claims for the seat.
Sources in NCP’s Goa unit said that its state president Jose Philip D’Souza has been summoned to Delhi by the party high command. D’Souza will reach Delhi early Thursday morning and is expected to be part of the delegation which will deliberate on the number of seats the NCP would like to contest.
The NCP has desired to contest in at least four seats.
Sources, close to Monserrate, said the UGP has demanded Cortalim constituency apart from Panaji, where Monserrate himself will contest.
The UGP would like to nominate Sancoale sarpanch Ramakant Borkar in Cortalim, while the NCP has announced Nelly Rodrigues as its candidate.
On the other hand, the Sardesai-mentored GFP has been keen on contesting from Saligao, Siolim and Velim constituencies. The GFP has proposed to nominate Jayesh Salgaonkar from Saligao, Vinod Palayekar from Siolim and Anthony Rodrigues from Velim.
