Goa: Congress on its toes as exit polls predict tight contest

Congress has despatched senior leaders Chidambaram and Shivakumar to Goa

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R Once bitten twice shy. The Congress in Goa is doubly careful to prevent the BJP from stealing its mandate if the former emerges as the single largest party on March 10 when the results of assembly polls will be out.

With the exit polls predicting neck-and-neck fight between the BJP and the Congress in Goa, the grand old party does not want to take any chances. It has despatched senior Congress leaders P. Chidambaram and D.K. Shivakumar to Goa to battle it out with the BJP.

Congress is hoping that it will win majority on its own by crossing the crucial 21-seat mark in the state legislature. However, it has already opened channels of communication with AAP, Trinamool Congress and MGP lest it falls ahort of majority by 3-4 seats.

MGP leadership is dead against joining hands with the BJP as its chief Sudin Dhaulikar has still not forgotten how Pramod Sawant got rid of his party by splitting it in 2019. Dhaulikar has said that he and MGP will not be part of any formation headed by Sawant.

This has made Congress men happy. Party leader Michael Lobo has an excellent equation with Dhaulikar and MGP. Lobo has told the Congress leadership that he can ensure MGP support to Congress if the need arises.

Lobo himself is a chief minister aspirant and is not averse to making Dhaulikar deputy chief minister.

On the other hand, leader of opposition and former CM Digambar Kamat is hoping that he will be a natural choice for the CM post if Congress emerges as the single largest party. Kamat is in touch with independents who are likely to win.

The race for the CM post in Congress could well be decided by the region which sends the most Congress legislators to the assembly. Could it be Bardez or Salsette? If it’s Bardez, then Lobo has the upper hand in the CM race, but if it is Salsette, it could be Kamat, the old Congress war-horse.