MARGAO
With political alignments and realignments taking shape with every passing day, the Congress leadership is on the job to put its own house in order before positioning itself ahead of the 2022 battle.
With the proposed Congress-Goa Forward alliance not going down well with Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Girish Chodankar’s camp, top party leaders and observers descended on the Fatorda residence of the GPCC to iron out differences and ensure the party put up a united front.
Congress Goa desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Opposition leader Digambar Kamat and other observers headed to Chodankar’s residence after a meeting of the Congress Pradesh Election Committee (EC) on Monday night to mollify the GPCC Chief and his supporters over the proposed Congress-Goa Forward alliance.
Take note, the GPCC Chief had consciously stayed away from the party’s public program since the day top leader Rahul Gandhi and other leaders including Dinesh Gundu Rao and Digambar Kamat had announced a tie-up with Goa Forward in the national capital last week.
Sources say Girish made his first public appearance at the crucial PEC meeting held at the South Goa District Congress office on Monday evening, before the top leadership headed to his residence, apparently to make the GPCC Chief see reason.
Sources in the know informed that the GPCC Chief was perturbed over the fact that he was kept in the dark over the proposed Cong-Goa Forward pact.
Sources say Girish is believed to have insisted that someone in the party should own up the responsibility for the proposed Cong-Goa Forward alliance, reiterating that he is not a party to the alliance with the regional party.
Sources say Girish is reported to have expressed his dismay over party leaders holding hands to signal the Congress-Goa Forward alliance, as he reportedly told the leaders that the Congress had to face the brunt on social medial after the photo went viral.
A Congress leader informed that the delegation of senior party leaders had called on the sulking GPCC Chief to give a message that the party cannot look back, but has to move ahead with little time left for the 2022 election. “We are trying to make the GPCC Chief understand that the party should move ahead. Only time will tell whether decisions taken by the party are good or bad,” the leader added.
