While 'family politics' is one of the major issues in the upcoming Goa legislative assembly polls, a young couple here is perhaps an exception, as both of them are rooting for rival political parties.
While Goa Pradesh Youth Congress Committee president Pratima Coutinho has emerged as a star campaigner for Congress, her husband Savio is contesting as Trinamool Congress candidate against chief minister Digambar Kamat, a Congress candidate from Margao constituency.
Talking about his candidature, Savio, who has been getting support from outfits like All India Muslim Front, said, "I am contesting the polls to defeat the chief minister and win the seat for TMC."
Savio, who was a former chairperson of Margao municipal council and a Congressman, had initially decided to contest as an independent candidate, before TMC made an entry into the state.
Pratima, who is the first woman president of Youth Congress in Goa, said that she would have loved to see her husband contest on the Congress ticket.
"It would have been good had he contested on Congress ticket. Now, I am not campaigning for him. I am supporting chief minister, who is our party candidate," Pratima said.
However, she said that even though both of them are from rival camps as far as polls are concerned, they do not discuss politics at home. "When we enter our house, we keep politics at the doorstep. It is a strict rule that we will not discuss politics at home," Pratima told PTI.
"When Savio did not force upon me whom I should campaign for, how can I interfere in his political decisions," she said.
Margao has been an important constituency for the Congress party. Congress has given 12 tickets to five families. TMC, which has has fielded 21 candidates, has been led by former Goa chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza.
Savio had been winning the civic polls since the last one and half decade. Pratima is currently a councillor of Margao Municipal Corporation, after Savio's ward was reserved for women.
