Avertano Furtado joins Cong with supporters

NT NETWORK

Panaji

Former Fisheries minister Avertano Furtado on Tuesday joined the Congress party in Panaji along with his supporters. 

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar and Congress legislature party leader Digambar Kamat welcomed Furtado and his supporters into the party fold in the presence of All India Congress Committee Secretary in-charge of Goa desk Dinesh Gundu Rao.

Furtado is keen to contest the 2022 state assembly elections on a Congress ticket.

“I had to cross swords with Luizinho Faleiro in 2017 elections and I lost and decided to never contest polls again. But despite that, I continued to work in my constituency. And when people saw me working hard for them, they kept on insisting that I give a last try and contest on Congress ticket,” he said.

Commenting on Luizinho Faleiro’s exit from the grand old party, Furtado said people of Navelim are disheartened, as the MLA

 “disowned” them without consulting the locals. He added that people would teach the former Congress veteran a lesson if he recontests from Navelim during the forthcoming assembly polls.

It is pertinent to note that Furtado had earlier served as Fisheries minister in the BJP government led by former chief minister late Manohar Parrikar. Furtado had won the 2012 assembly election from Navelim as an independent candidate and extended support to the then BJP-led government.

“He (Furtado) has joined unconditionally and he is joining in the interest of Goa and to see that the last five years of misrule end and to see that Goa gets a government that will concentrate on development by safeguarding its environment and culture,” Dinesh Rao said welcoming the former minister into the Congress party.

Kamat said with the entry of Furtado, Congress will be further strengthened in Navelim constituency. “Furtado is a footballer player and he has the sportsman spirit. I am confident that he will ensure Congress’ victory,” he said.

Chodankar said that Navelim constituency is a bastion of Congress party and expressed confidence that the candidate of the grand old party will win the 2022 assembly polls. He said Faleiro’s departure will have no impact on the party in Navelim.

“Congress is a party of Goans and both, Congress and Goans have always remained the same, as the ideology of the party and the people is also the same,” he said. Chodankar said the party will soon reconstitute its different committees in Navelim in the coming days.

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