Not Trinamool, It's Parachute Congress, How Can They Talk Alliance After Poaching Cong MLAs, Asks Dinesh Gundu Rao

All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao. (Twitter)

All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao says the party is in a position to give a good fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has every chance of winning the February 14 election

News18.com Goa
Last Updated:February 02, 2022, 19:09 IST
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The Congress has had a rocky start in the run-up to the assembly elections in Goa. While the principal opposition party struggled to keep its act together as it dealt with infighting and mass defections, a new entrant, Trinamool Congress, put forth an aggressive campaign.

However, All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao says the party is in a position to give a good fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has every chance of winning the February 14 election.

In an interview to News18, Rao talks about Congress's decision to reject the TMC's alliance bid, the much-anticipated battle of Panjim and the party's chief ministerial face.

Excerpts:

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Which constituencies in Goa is the Congress confident of winning?

There are many seats. There are two seats in Salcete, then Margao, from where Digambar Kamat is contesting, is also our stronghold. In north Goa, we are sure of winning all of Michael Lobo's seats. His wife Delilah, who is a candidate from the neighbouring Siolim, is also confident of her win. We hope that Carlos Almeida (two-time MLA who switched to the Congress from the BJP in December 2021), will score a hat-trick in Vasco.

Will Digambar Kamat be the chief minister if the Congress gets a majority?

It's obvious who the chief minister will be. People know who the CM will be if we come to power (laughs). That's all I will say about it.

There are speculations that you have promised Michael Lobo the post of deputy chief minister if the Congress wins. Is it true?

No such promises have been made. These are just speculations.

The TMC has said that if the BJP wins in Goa, the Congress should be blamed because it approached the Congress for an alliance, but got no response.

When the TMC first came to Goa, it had an anti-Congress mindset. It portrayed itself as "the Congress" here. More than the BJP, the TMC leaders considered the Congress as their Number One enemy.

They first poached Luizinho Faleiro (former chief minister) and gave him the Rajya Sabha seat. They also want to defeat the Goa Forward Party (GFP), which is our alliance partner, in Fatroda and pitted Faleiro (he backed out of contest at the last minute) against GFP chief Vijai Sardesai. They poached so many of our MLAs. On what basis are they asking for an alliance?

They first tried to poach our ministers and break our party, and then, with less than two months remaining for the elections, they tried to shake hands with us. That's not how it works. They got the very foundation of the alliance talks wrong. There needs to be trust between two parties if they have to come together. The beginning should have been better if they really wanted an alliance.

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But aren't both the TMC and now fighting on the common agenda of beating the BJP in Goa?

But that wasn't the TMC's agenda when it first came to Goa last year. It only tried to weaken the Congress.

The TMC has been working on ground and is targeting a big voter pie. How strong do you think they are?

The Mamata Banerjee-led party has realised it can't win the election, so it came to us with a request for an alliance. The TMC has gone against its own philosophy. Trinamool means 'grassroots'. What they have done in Goa is parachute landing. That's not how you win an election. It's not the Trinamool Congress, it is Parachute Congress.

All eyes are set on the big battle in Panjim where late CM Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal is fighting as an independent against BJP's Atanasio Monserrate, who is known to have a strong hold over the area. Does your candidate, Elvis Gomes, stand a chance?

Panjim is going to be a very interesting triangular fight between the BJP, Congress and Utpal Parrikar. The Congress has never won in Panjim, except for the by-elections. We understand that this city is not a Congress stronghold. But we have got a good candidate in Elvis Gomes. If we capitalise on that, we could be the surprise winner in Panjim.

Before quitting the BJP in January, Utpal had made his displeasure with the party public. Did you approach him to join the Congress?

He was earlier in the BJP…. He had nothing to do with us. Now he is fighting as an independent…

The Congress went back and forth on its alliance with the GFP. First, Rahul Gandhi met GFP president Vijai Sardesai in December, but later you came on record to say there is no alliance, only to announce later that an alliance has been formed…

Yes, there were some issues because of our history together. Vijai quit the Congress ahead of the 2012 assembly polls, fought as an independent, won and went on to support the BJP, which helped the party form the government. There was resistance in the party (about forging an alliance). Now it's fine…

Congress's three-time Curtorim MLA Reginaldo Lourenco quit and joined the TMC, only to quit again and fight as an independent. Will the Congress take him back if he wins?

We are in a position to win that seat on our own. The real fight in Curtorim is between us and the Aam Aadmi Party, not Reginaldo.

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