Infighting in Goa's ruling alliance out in open after polls

Panaji, April 24 (IANS) Leaders of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance in Goa who are unhappy with their colleagues have taken to publicly airing their grievances following the conclusion of the Lok Sabha polls.

Francisco Sardinha, Congress candidate for the South Goa seat, came out openly against Curtorim legislator Reginaldo Lourenco Thursday evening at a press conference that was also attended by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat.

Sardinha accused Lourenco of not having supported his run for the Lok Sabh polls.

Speaking to IANS Friday, Sardinha said: 'The Curtorim legislator has not worked for my candidature. I have concrete information that he asked people to vote for the UGDP (United Goans Democratic Party) or the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).'

The sitting MP added that he also suspected Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Churchill Alemao of having worked against him.

'I will complain to the Congress leadership against this anti-party activity,' Sardinha said.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Subhash Shirodkar said any disciplinary action would have to wait until after the poll results are declared May 16.

Goa recorded nearly 54 percent voting for its two parliamentary constituencies of North Goa and South Goa during the polls held Thursday.

While Sardinha has accused his party colleagues of not having supported him, NCP state unit president Wilfred D'Souza has declared that he doesn't expect the party's North Goa candidate Jitendra Deshprabhu to win the seat.

D'Souza told reporters Thursday evening that the party high command announced Deshprabhu's candidature without consulting the party's state unit.

'I did not want a NCP leader to contest from North Goa because we had no strong candidate to put up in this constituency,' D'Souza said.

According to him, the late announcement of Deshprabhu's candidature, lack of commitment shown by the party's workers and rampant fighting between the Congress legislators and senior leaders did not augur well for the NCP.

D'Souza also hinted that he was ignored by the campaign managers while laying out the road-show for the alliance.