The fissures within the Congress are beginning to grow wider even as Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao descended in the State with a clear missive to resolve the leadership issue and kick-start the party’s election campaign. A section of partymen by pleading not to effect a change in the leadership at this juncture have only exposed the fact that those owing allegiance to Girish Chodankar, the current GPCC president, are not going to take it lightly. The battle lines are drawn.
Party vice-president Sankalp Amonkar has appealed that a change could hit party prospects since elections are around seven months away. The sudden move to question the logic behind the revamp appears suspicious because there were indications given by leadership months ago. It now appears that the pro-Chodankar faction has decided to throw their weight behind him.
As Dinesh walks in with a clear missive of resolving the leadership crisis, the revolt that is brewing will make his job difficult because now he will have to deal with pacifying youth. Amid all this turmoil, there are interesting questions that emerge. Why did Congress not resolve the leadership issue when they had all the time to do so, and why did the party leadership prefer to drag this till the fag end knowing well that it will ruffle feathers because elections are in sight.
Secondly, if Chodankar has willingly quit office twice, and has been holding on till a replacement is made, why is a lobby within the party rooting for his candidature? Further, if Chodankar knew that a change in on the cards, why did he make a promise of the party fielding 70 per cent new faces for the 2022 elections? On what basis was this statement made if the president had no local standi. Random statements like these only meant that the party was taking the youth brigade for a ride.
On the flip side, the argument to go to the polls with the leadership of Chodankar doesn’t stand on strong footing and smacks of individual biases because he has failed as a candidate as much as he has not succeeded in making a mark as a strong opposition. Add to this the failure of directing the party’s trajectory. The track record does not bode well for the leadership of Chodankar, and there is no convincing reason for Rao to go with a failed formula.
With Congress split into multiple factions and senior party leaders like Digambar Kamat, Luizinho Faleiro, Francisco Sardinha and Aleixo Sequeira remaining in contention, Rao will have a tough job at hand in zeroing down on a leader who could be the all-important glue that holds the many factions together.
Congress may have been relegated to a motley bunch of leaders split into groups, but the party cannot be written off in its stronghold of Salcete. The eight seats that are up for grabs could make a huge difference in the larger state's political equations, and which is why there is tremendous focus on party leadership, revamp and alliances.
