PANAJI
Congress candidates, both losers and winners of the February 14 assembly polls, on Wednesday, poured out their hearts to All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer Rajani Patil and cited reasons for the party’s crushing defeat in the polls.
While Patil, who has been deputed to Goa by the AICC to review the reasons for the party’s defeat, has claimed that inner-party differences cost the party dearly, comments by Congress leaders who spoke to reporters after meeting the observer, still indicate a sense of confusion in the party ranks about decisions taken ahead of the elections and over the choice for the posts of state president and Congress legislature party leader.
The post of the state president has fallen vacant in wake of the resignation submitted by Girish Chodankar following the party’s defeat.
The party’s Sanvordem candidate Khemalo Sawant told reporters after meeting Patil that he was not even sure why the party fielded him from the Sanvordem assembly constituency when he was vying for a ticket to contest from Sanquelim where he hails from.
“I still do not know why I was given a ticket to contest in Sanvordem. Everyone knows I am from Sanquelim. Perhaps Girish knows why. I told her my constituency is Sanquelim. I wanted to contest from there. But I did not get the ticket. I had to contest from where the party allotted the ticket,” Sawant told reporters.
Sawant could manage to win only 383 votes in the constituency which returned BJP’s Ganesh Gaonkar as the winner.
According to Aleixo Sequeira, Congress’s winning candidate from the Nuvem assembly constituency claimed that his meeting with Patil was not a review meeting at all, adding that he had merely given her his opinion about the pary’s performance in the elections.
“I have not attended any review meeting. So I do not know about a review meeting having been held. I have met her. I have given her my opinion on our performance during the last elections. That’s it,” he said.
When asked if Patil sought his suggestion over who should be the Congress legislature party leader, Sequeira claimed that there was no discussion on the subject.
Congress MLA from Mormugao Sankalp Amonkar, however, contradicted Sequeira, adding that the issue of who should be the CLP leader was on Patil’s menu of queries.
“She asked us about the reasons for the defeat. We have spoken to her in detail. She also asked about who should be the next party president. We have given her the details. She also sought details about who should be CLP leader,” Amonkar said.
The choice of CLP leader is expected to be the first flashpoint in the Congress legislature party with former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and former BJP Ports Minister Michael Lobo, who joined the party on the election eve in the race for the position.
Lobo himself told reporters that while the choice of CLP leader was up to the party, he said that he was in the reckoning for it.
“That is up to the party high command to decide. I am not saying I am not ready. I am ready. But at the same time it is the decision of the party,” Lobo said.
