MARGAO
Badly battered in the just-concluded Zilla Panchayat polls and a leadership crisis staring at the party, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Girish Chodankar and CLP leader Digambar Kamat had a meeting with Goa desk in-charge, Dinesh Gundu Rao, in the national capital on Saturday to discuss the entire gamut of issues plaguing the State unit of the party.
The trio went into a huddle in Delhi on Saturday noon before they all had another meeting with top Congress functionary K C Venugopal later in the day.
This is the first meeting Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao had with Girish and Kamat after his interaction with the Goa party functionaries and workers post-ZP debacle.
While local party leaders and workers were anxiously trying to figure out whether the GPCC Chief’s resignation was considered during the meeting in Delhi, sources said it will be decided by the party high command after the return of Rahul Gandhi from abroad.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat told The Goan from Delhi that the meeting basically discussed ways and means to strengthen and rebuild the party and gear up for the 2022 Assembly election. “The meeting took stock of the present situation in Goa after the ZP election and discussed ways and means to strengthen the party to face the 2022 election. The meeting laid stress on the membership drive and strengthening of the party at the booths,” Kamat said.
He declined to comment on the question of whether the resignation tendered by the GPCC had come in for discussion, only saying that the matter falls in the domain of the high command.
“We only assessed the party’s situation in Goa and how to strengthen the organization in order to face the 2022 electoral battle,” he added.
Sources pointed out that the Goa unit of the Congress is now expected to receive a list of measures to put the party back on the tracks after the debacle in the Zilla Panchayat polls, where the Congress managed to win just four seats.
On the leadership front, sources said that the Leader of Opposition may be in favour of the party maintaining status quo though Girish has put in his papers and a section of the party demanding change in the GPCC leadership.
A senior Congress leader pointed out that the high command has to take a call whether or not to accept the resignation tendered by Girish. Sources said if the high command prefers to accept GPCC chief’s resignation, the next question will come to haunt the party high command is to find a successor to Girish.
While a section of the party has rooted for the return of party veteran and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro on the GPCC saddle, others have come out strongly in favour of the CLP leader on condition that Kamat quits the post and pave way for someone else to take over the reins of the Leader of Opposition.
