Likened to missing Rahul, Goa Congress leader says media boycotting him

Likened to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for his long spells of absence, Goa Congress president Luizinho Faleiro on Monday blamed the media for boycotting him and the party for coverage.

Faleiro, who was addressing a press conference at the party's state headquarters here, was responding to his comparison with the Gandhi scion, who has been missing from public life for several weeks now.

"Luizinho Faleiro might have become a little old. But don't you think this movement of mine is much more than many of you (media). I think we don't get enough publicity on your newspapers. I'll be very, very grateful if you could give us some publicity," said Faleiro, who was until last year a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee.

When asked if he and the Congress party were being specifically targeted by the media here, the state Congress president said: "I will not cast aspersions on my friends from the media."

Faleiro was appointed as state president by the Congress in October last year with the party battling desertions and lack of inertia following the electoral hammering it received in the 2012 state assembly polls, which reduced its legislative strength to an unprecedented nine MLAs in the 40-member assembly.

One out of the nine MLAs was last month sacked for anti-party activities, while Leader of Opposition Pratapsing Rane has been charged by legislators of not being vocal enough against the omissions and commissions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led coalition government in the state.

Since his appointment, after making brief appearances, however, Faleiro was consciously missing from the thick of things, with the opposition charge mainly shouldered by young spokespersons.

Faleiro, however, claims that he has been busy working at grassroots to strengthen the party across the state and away from the glare.

"I am very happy to tell you that despite some of the press saying that the Congress is very quiet, the Congress is getting good response," he said.