New innings, same tale for voters in Santa Cruz, Nuvem

Panaji: In the traditional Congress strongholds of Santa Cruz and Nuvem, voters have seen their elected MLAs switch allegiance to BJP for the second consecutive term.
Voters elected Congress representatives in 2017 and 2022 in these constituencies. In both, voters said previous defectors – Antonio Fernandes (Santa Cruz) and Wilfred D’Sa (Nuvem) - should be taught a lesson. Now Rodolfo Fernandes and Aleixo Sequeira have followed the same path.
“I was the first Congress MLA from Santa Cruz. I never defected even though the government changed seven times. The mother of Rodolfo Fernandes, Victoria, was then elected and she defected. Now the son has also defected and this time voters are angrier. BJP wants to finish the opposition and Congress has given tickets to the wrong people. Congress sold tickets and has learnt a lesson,” said Victor Gonsalves, who was among the youngest legislators when elected in 1989.
Congress general secretary, Everson Vales, who was one of the aspirants for the Nuvem party ticket for the 2022 polls, also shares Gonsalves’ sentiment.
“There were mistakes in giving tickets,” said Vales, who has been a loyal Congressman for close to three decades. “Both times, I was denied the ticket, even though I slogged to keep Congress alive in Nuvem. Aleixo Sequeira did not go to a single person’s doorstep since 2012. People of Nuvem were not in favour of him getting the ticket. But the party gave him a lease of life. This is the price the party has paid.”
While Rodolfo is a first-time legislator, Sequeira is an old hand who has defected in the past.
In 1999, at a time when he was elected unopposed as a Congress candidate from Loutolim, now Nuvem constituency, Sequeira was part of the 11-member group led by Francisco Sardinha that revolted against the Luizinho Faleiro government and formed Goa People’s Congress Party.
Mauvin Godinho and Subhash Shirodkar, both ministers in the current BJP government, were part of that defecting group that grabbed power after joining hands with the saffron party.
While some like Vales believe that Congress can still make a comeback after two successive defections, others feel it could be the end of the road for the grand old party in these strongholds.
“In the past, Mickky Pacheco had also defected. Aleixo Sequeira has got a retirement plan for himself, that is what he has done. He has been responsible for BJP coming to office earlier too. This is the second time he has betrayed the people. People are fed up with this. Congress is not a party to trust. We have to look for different options,” said Nuvem voter Michael Gracias.
Deputy sarpanch in the Santa Cruz panchayat Dominic Pereira, too feels that Rodolfo will have a hard time explaining his move to BJP to his voters.
“People are losing faith in politics right now. He should have resigned from Congress and then gone for elections. This will not be accepted. Let us see what development he brings in now. His mother was MLA for 17 years and she could not do it. He does not know what development is either,” said Pereira.