Unfriendly fire

Congress faces an uphill battle in Goa as one of its key leaders leaves for the Trinamool Congress, giving a boost to Mamata Banerjee’s national ambitions

- DNYANESH JATHAR/Goa

The exit of Luizinho Faleiro, former chief minister and Navelim MLA, from the Congress has set alarm bells ringing for the party in Goa. Faleiro has been reportedly offered a Rajya Sabha seat by the Trinamool Congress, which hopes to benefit from his experience as AICC in-charge of the northeastern states as it expands its base in Assam and Tripura.

Faleiro’s resignation as MLA has reduced the tally of the Congress to four from the original 17 who had won the 2017 elections on the party ticket. The four legislators who remain with the Congress are former chief ministers Pratapsingh Rane, Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and three-term legislator Reginaldo Lourenco.

Rane is not keen to contest the 2022 elections, while Kamat and Naik remain chief ministerial aspirants. That leaves Lourenco, who has never been a minister because he remained loyal to the Congress even when his 10 colleagues migrated to the BJP in 2017. Both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool have sent feelers to Lourenco, but so far he has not responded.

The Trinamool leadership has decided to contest all 40 assembly seats in the upcoming elections. Party leaders Derek O’Brien and Prasun Chatterjee have already visited Goa and held meetings with political activists from the Congress, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and even some disgruntled elements from the BJP. Apart from Trinamool leaders, a team working for political strategist Prashant Kishor has also been active in Goa in order to meet influential citizens and gauge their minds before the Trinamool makes its entry in Goa.