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TMC’s Faleiro closes the door on pre-poll pacts in Goa, leaves one window open
TMC’s Goa leader Luizinho Faleiro said if there are good people and credible leaders, the TMC would like to have them because ultimately the aim and objective is to serve the people and serve Goa
PANAJI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will not get into a pre-poll alliance with any party in Goa and intends to field 40 new faces in next year’s Goa assembly elections, the party’s freshly-minted leader Luizinho Faleiro said on Thursday but appeared reluctant to shut the door on inducting “credible faces” from other parties who may want to shift.
Addressing a Press conference after his return from Kolkata where he was welcomed into the party, Faleiro said while the TMC would “like to change the culture of ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’, the party was looking at “credible leaders”.
The TMC leader also ruled out alliances with like-minded parties: “We will go ahead all alone in all constituencies”.
“Right now as far as TMC is concerned we would like to give 40 clean, new faces and if there are good people, credible leaders, we would like to have them because ultimately the aim and objective is to serve the people and serve the state,” Faleiro said.
“We will... see that we get the best candidates from the grassroots after consulting the people. Trinamool is a movement and that movement has got an appeal because people in Goa are fed up with the BJP. They want a change, so we would like to give them a change,” he added, responding to a question if the party was open to inducting BJP legislators who won on Congress tickets in the 2017 assembly elections.
There has been speculation in Goa that several MLAs who switched over to the BJP from the Congress who did not expect to get a party ticket will be open to joining a new party. The Congress has already declared that they are not welcome.
The party, he said, would go out across the 40 constituencies in Goa with the help of the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC) which has started conducting surveys across Goa to gauge the mood and aspirations of the people. Asked why he was relying on the IPAC since he often claimed to be responsible for the past successes of the Congress in the state, Faleiro said,”Elections today is a science and they are experts in it”.
On his switch from the Congress to the TMC, Faleiro said he was in touch with IPAC founder. “It was a difficult decision to take, but a decision I had to take in the interest of Goa because this is the only way to go forward,” he said.
