Goa polls: Independent MLA asks Congress to name CM candidate

Panaji, Jul 22: Needling the Congress which appears divided on the demand for forming an alliance with "like-minded" parties for forthcoming Assembly polls in Goa, an Independent legislator today asked the opposition party to announce their Chief Ministerial candidate.

"The Congress should first speak in one tone. Their Legislature wing and the state party organisation speak in different voices as far as the issue of grand alliance is concerned," Vijai Sardesai, who represents Fatorda constituency, told reporters here.

His comments came against the backdrop of several Congress MLAs recently raising the demand for a pre-poll tie-up with "like-minded" parties for 2017 elections, even as state unit Congress president Luizinho Faleiro has clarified that the call on forming such an alliance will be taken only by October.

"I challenge the Congress to announce their chief ministerial candidate for Goa elections and then talk about other issues. As the Congress is speaking in two different voices they should first reveal who are going to lead their party in the upcoming polls," Sardesai, flanked by two MLAs Naresh Sawal and Rohan Khaunte, said at the presser.

Several Congress legislators, including former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Vishwajit Rane, Pandurang Madkaikar, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Jeniffer Monserratte, have been demanding that the party should not go solo in the elections.

Congress fared badly in the 2012 polls bagging only nine seats, as the BJP romped home in alliance with the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to grab power in the coastal state.

PTI