PANAJI: So the honeymoon between the Goa Congress top brass and former Calangute MLA Michael Lobo is finally over. In what could be sweet music to the ears of the BJP, AAP and TMC leadership in Goa, Lobo today openly expressed his “disappointment” with the Congress leadership who ‘denied’ his friend Reginald Lourenco the Curtorim ticket.

And in what could be considered the first signs of a major rift brewing and apparently widening between former Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, who switched sides from the BJP and joined the Congress, and the Goa State Congress leadership, Lobo (commenting on the refusal to re-admit Lourenco back into the Congress fold) expressed his deep dissatisfaction and frustration with senior Congress leaders, including the AICC in-charge P Chidambaram and Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao, without taking any names.

The reason for Lobo’s frustration is the fact that the Congress snubbed three-time, ‘best performing’ Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and gave the ticket to a comparatively unknown entity Moreno Rebello, instead of Lourenco, who returned from the TMC in a huff, in spite of Lobo’s insistence with the Congress leadership, that Reginaldo should be given a chance.

Lobo made his intention very clear, when he openly invited Reginaldo to rejoin the Congress without even discussing the matter with the other leaders including State President Girish Chodankar and LoP Digambar Kamat.

The miffed Congress leaders felt Lobo who had just joined the party had exceeded his brief in interfering in the Reginaldo matter and decided to kill two birds with one stone.

Reginaldo was denied the ticket, to “teach him a lesson and also show Michael Lobo his place”, said a senior Congressman.

By doing so, the Congress top brass not only demonstrated to Reginaldo that they do not ‘need’ him to win Curtorim, but also showed Lobo who the bosses were. This decision was a case of ego over reason and the Congress leadership can still make amends as the ‘B’ forms are not yet given out.

But Lobo being Lobo, had to shoot his mouth off!

Not just that, Michael Lobo wanted “his man” to be given the Aldona ticket, which was also denied by the Congress team. He was told indirectly to be content with Calangute, Saligao, Siolim and Mapusa (where Lobo has his friends or proteges as Congress candidates) and draw the boundaries of “Together for Bardez”.

And Lobo who is very outspoken and could be a motor-mouth at times, went public with his “disappointment” with the Congress State brass, shooting from the hip at a crucial moment.

A little birdie today chirped that a ‘smarting’ Lobo may delay the delivery of the moolah to Congress House in retaliation for the royal snub, to show the Congress that they after all cannot bite the hand that feeds them.

PANAJI: Mamata Banerjee’s recent vist to Goa at best can be termed a flop, or if one wants to be harsh in one’s judgment, then a ‘catastrophe of mammoth proportions’.

Mamata Banerjee versus Rahul Gandhi

The reason for this evaluation is manifold. When compared to the budget of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Goa, days after Mamata’s maiden visit to the coastal state, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) spent nearly Rs 1 crore, compared to the Congress’ Rs 20-25 lakh. But there’s a big difference – Rahul Gandhi addressed a big gathering of thousands of Congress workers, while Banerjee’s interaction were only with a few hundred people. Rahul Gandhi managed to stir up and motivate more Goans, than Mamata Banerjee did, in spite of the TMC spending 5 times more than the Congress.

Failed Temple Run

Banerjee’s visits to prominent temples in Goa boomeranged badly, with locals accusing her of “insulting the Hindu religion”. It is surprising that Team Mamata could not predict such reactions due to cultural and traditional differences and did not brief their Supremo of the difference in religious sensitivity and local norms.

Bangla versus Konkani

It is surprising that people like Prashant Kishor and Derek O’Brien could not understand in advance the prevalent communication gap that could dampen Mamata’s interaction with local Goans. Mamata Banerjee is not very fluent in English and Hindi and most Goans, including journalists and politicians who met Banerjee had a tough time understanding what she said. She does not speak or understand Konkani and her diction and dialect may be very popular in West Bengal, but sounds like Latin and Greek to Goans.

No Organizational Structure in Goa

Most importantly, the TMC failed to declare its Organizational Structure in the state and yet ventured into a Mamata visit. Without a proper structure, foundation and organization, the TMC brass should have not invited their Chairperson over. Even former Goa CM Luizinho Faleiro’s exact role in the Goa unit is not clear and with no declared local office bearers, the TMC and Mamata Banerjee came across to Goans as fly-by-night operators, with no serious intent.

Incorrect TMC Media and PR Strategy

Like GPCC President Girish Chodankar said, “TMC has more flags and hoardings in Goa, than it has workers,” a statement that holds true and glares out through all the huge-spend hoardings and posters the party put out before Mamata’s visit. Further, a cartoon uploaded on social media by the TMC on their official pages, showed Banerjee’s foot stomping on top BJP leaders including PM Narendra Modi. This infuriated the local BJP cadre, which went out tearing down TMC hoardings, blackening Mamata’s images and also supported a Black Flag welcome at the airport. Banerjee and her team should thank their stars that this happened in Goa, for the Goa unit of the BJP, including CM Pramod Sawant and the top leadership has inculcated a lot of Catholic tolerance and magnanimity. If a similar cartoon were to be released in UP, or for that matter Maharashtra against the Shiv Sena supremo, several police cases would have been filed, resulting in violence and a law and order situation and Banerjee would have to cancel her visit. An important lesson for the TMC PR team, when you go to a new place, don’t go with guns blazing (Unless you are the USA). The problem here is, Goa TMC Media and PR is not handled by Goans – unfortunately there are no experienced local Political PR agencies in Goa – maybe O’Brien, Kishor & Co. could have consulted us!

No workers, no welcome

Another important fact that cannot be ignored – the local leaders including Luizinho Faleiro who have joined the TMC have no mass followers of their own and are unable to get huge crowds for rallies and meetings. Hence, when Mamata landed at the Goa airport, there were hardly a dozen supporters to greet her. She must have expected thousands of supporters to greet her on the roads leading from the airport, or near her hotel, but that was not to be as the newly-inducted TMC leaders have no genuine supporters of their own. Luizinho Faleiro should have arranged for “paid local Goan crowds”, but for reasons best known to him, did not do so. All that Banerjee saw as soon as she sat in the vehicle, after leaving the airport were black flags by BJP-affiliated groups, that set the tone and mood for the rest of the two days. Read More Here