Campaigning for the Goa elections, likely early next year, tennis ace and Trinamool Congress leader Leander Paes was seen in a spirited chat with a bakery owner in Calangute on Monday. A video shared by his party on Koo showed Mr Paes praising the man and appreciating his love for sports. The bakery owner had tattooed the names of football legends such as David Beckham and Paolo Maldini on his forearm. Seeing the tattoos, Mr Paes said, "Sports and bakery. I love bakeries."
"The simplicity of a world beater like Leander Paes is astonishing. Watch him having a candid chat during his door-to-door campaign at Calangute today," the Trinamool wrote in its post.
Mr Paes read the names on the tattoos one by one and appeared surprised. The third tattoo was of UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe.
There were two more names on the forearm but the man refused to divulge details. "These I cannot tell you now, old story," he said. Both of them then burst into laughter.
Watch the video here:
Mr Paes joined the Trinamool Congress in October and was welcomed into the party by its chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Addressing a meeting of the party's Goa unit, before joining the campaign the next day, Mr Paes said that the Trinamool took up “hard issues such as water, women's safety and mining”.
The Goa Assembly has 40 seats. In the current assembly, BJP has 17 legislators and enjoys the support of MLAs from the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and other regional parties. Congress has 15 MLAs in the Assembly.
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