PANAJI: Former Congress training minister and Taleigao strongman Atanasio Monserrate returned to the birthday party fold, for the third time, on Thursday after “finding out a lesson” all through his transient hiatus with two regional events—Goa Forward Party and United Goans Party.
Though Congress claims that procedural formalities need to be adopted, the click briefing to welcome Monserrate left no doubts that he will be the birthday party’s face in the Panaji byelections on May 19.
“I look at it like a house coming,” Monserrate, popularly known as Babush, said. “It is just like the return of the prodigal son. I've learnt a lesson after roaming everywhere and this is my home.”
Monserrate’s sentiment, even though consistent with the Lenten length of repentance, in fact masks the blunt truth that Congress and Monserrate need each other in Panaji.
“In the previous 4 to 5 days, other folks have been calling us and telling us that if Babush Monserrate joins Congress, there can be an affect and the affect can already be noticed,” said state Congress president and North Goa candidate Girish Chodankar.
“After a very long time, Congress is getting fortify in Panaji and the same can be felt in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
When requested why he chose to return to Congress, Monserrate said that the remaining time he contested, a “consider deficit” in other folks’s minds noticed him fetching fewer votes.
“There was once at all times a doubt in other folks’s mind that if I win as an independent, whether I will soar to BJP. So, other folks need to be sure. There was once a loud and clear name from the people that I should join Congress,” Monserrate said.
As Congress seems for resurgence, the birthday party leadership and Monserrate appear to have buried the hatchet of their joint bid to challenge BJP’s stranglehold at the state capital.
The Panaji seat is prestigious for BJP, which Parrikar held from 1994 when he first become an MLA.
“We are glad to welcome Monserrate back to the Congress circle of relatives and I want him all the luck in the byelections. The mandate which was once robbed by means of BJP in the state can be restored back to the people of Goa,” said Luizinho Faleiro, who had expelled Monserrate for 6 years in 2015 for brazenly supporting BJP in the Panaji byelections.
Monserrate’s chequered political graph has noticed him skip between Congress and BJP and the former St. Cruz MLA has come to be identified for deftly maneuvering between governments to keep his political and financial possibilities alive.
This time round, his return to Congress appears to be pushed by means of the realisation that without them, he stood no probability at successful in the state capital.
“I will get started my marketing campaign from April 24, but I've already begun door to door conferences,” he said.
Monserrate has at all times signalled his want to contest the Panjim assembly seat, now vacant after the death of former leader minister Manohar Parrikar. BJP is likely to box Parrikar’s elder son Utpal for the byelections.
Monserrate, who was once a vice-president in Goa Forward Party an best friend of BJP in the executive, was once told by means of GFP president Vijai Sardesai that the regional birthday party would sit down the Panaji byelections out.
“If Babush contested as an independent, the Congress would haven't any possibility but to position up a candidate also and cut up the votes,” said a Congress functionary of the Panaji Congress block committee.
Former leader minister Digambar Kamat was once also to hand to welcome Monserrate. “I consider that together with his joining, the people of Panaji will see a new first light. I've given a transparent message that they should rally in the back of Babush Monserrate,” said Kamat, whilst Chodankar said that the birthday party’s block committee would decide at the candidate for the Panaji byelections.
Though Congress claims that procedural formalities need to be adopted, the click briefing to welcome Monserrate left no doubts that he will be the birthday party’s face in the Panaji byelections on May 19.
“I look at it like a house coming,” Monserrate, popularly known as Babush, said. “It is just like the return of the prodigal son. I've learnt a lesson after roaming everywhere and this is my home.”
Monserrate’s sentiment, even though consistent with the Lenten length of repentance, in fact masks the blunt truth that Congress and Monserrate need each other in Panaji.
“In the previous 4 to 5 days, other folks have been calling us and telling us that if Babush Monserrate joins Congress, there can be an affect and the affect can already be noticed,” said state Congress president and North Goa candidate Girish Chodankar.
“After a very long time, Congress is getting fortify in Panaji and the same can be felt in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
When requested why he chose to return to Congress, Monserrate said that the remaining time he contested, a “consider deficit” in other folks’s minds noticed him fetching fewer votes.
“There was once at all times a doubt in other folks’s mind that if I win as an independent, whether I will soar to BJP. So, other folks need to be sure. There was once a loud and clear name from the people that I should join Congress,” Monserrate said.
As Congress seems for resurgence, the birthday party leadership and Monserrate appear to have buried the hatchet of their joint bid to challenge BJP’s stranglehold at the state capital.
The Panaji seat is prestigious for BJP, which Parrikar held from 1994 when he first become an MLA.
“We are glad to welcome Monserrate back to the Congress circle of relatives and I want him all the luck in the byelections. The mandate which was once robbed by means of BJP in the state can be restored back to the people of Goa,” said Luizinho Faleiro, who had expelled Monserrate for 6 years in 2015 for brazenly supporting BJP in the Panaji byelections.
Monserrate’s chequered political graph has noticed him skip between Congress and BJP and the former St. Cruz MLA has come to be identified for deftly maneuvering between governments to keep his political and financial possibilities alive.
This time round, his return to Congress appears to be pushed by means of the realisation that without them, he stood no probability at successful in the state capital.
“I will get started my marketing campaign from April 24, but I've already begun door to door conferences,” he said.
Monserrate has at all times signalled his want to contest the Panjim assembly seat, now vacant after the death of former leader minister Manohar Parrikar. BJP is likely to box Parrikar’s elder son Utpal for the byelections.
Monserrate, who was once a vice-president in Goa Forward Party an best friend of BJP in the executive, was once told by means of GFP president Vijai Sardesai that the regional birthday party would sit down the Panaji byelections out.
“If Babush contested as an independent, the Congress would haven't any possibility but to position up a candidate also and cut up the votes,” said a Congress functionary of the Panaji Congress block committee.
Former leader minister Digambar Kamat was once also to hand to welcome Monserrate. “I consider that together with his joining, the people of Panaji will see a new first light. I've given a transparent message that they should rally in the back of Babush Monserrate,” said Kamat, whilst Chodankar said that the birthday party’s block committee would decide at the candidate for the Panaji byelections.
In season of Lent, ‘prodigal son’ Babush returns to Congress
![In season of Lent, ‘prodigal son’ Babush returns to Congress]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
April 19, 2019
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