PANAJI
After holding a meeting with all its 37 candidates and their election agents reportedly to give them instructions on the post-results flow of events, the Congress said on Monday that it will choose its legislature party leader within minutes of declaration of the election outcome on Thursday (March 10).
"As soon as the entire results are out, we will have a CLP meeting, within a few minutes we will elect a CLP leader and we will go and stake the claim," the Congress' Goa desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, told reporters after the meeting with candidates.
The Congress would form the government in Goa, he said.
The choking at the post, apparently owing to indecisiveness on electing a legislature party leader despite emerging as the single-largest party in 2017, had cost the Congress a shot at power.
On Monday, however, Gundu Rao asserted that the party would not make the same mistakes again.
"We are prepared. We won't allow repetition of what happened in 2017. This time the Congress will form the government and there will be no scope for anything else to happen," Gundu Rao said.
The Congress has contested 37 of the 40 seats leaving three for its alliance partner the Goa Forward Party (GFP).
Meanwhile former chief minister Digambar Kamat, who is a top contender for the CM's post if the Congress manages the numbers and formS the government, said the party will like to bring other anti-BJP parties on board the government formation exercise.
Kamat however expressed confidence that his party will win a clear majority in alliance with the GFP.
He said senior Congress leader P Chidambaram told the meeting of the candidates and their election agents that even if the party gets a majority, the Congress would like to associate all non-BJP parties.
