PANAJI/VASCO
All India Congress Committee in-charge of Goa Dinesh Gundu Rao
arrived in the State on a 4-day visit on a mission to get his beleaguered Congress party apparatus to shift gears ahead of the general election which is some eight months away.
Rao who is expected to extensively tour the State, will meet Congress leaders and functionaries and visit all 40 constituencies ahead of an expected reshuffle of the party organisation.
Incumbent State party chief Girish Chodankar is reportedly likely to be replaced after he twice put in his papers, first owning responsibility for the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle and again after Rahul Gandhi quit the national president's post.
Meanwhile, Rao interacted with journalists at the Congress headquarters where he spoke of the Covid administration, the jobs scenario and environment rather than speaking of his task at hand -- Congress organisational matters.
Rao said, "we will be doing a full review and also hold discussions with party leaders. The youth and mahila wing is very important for every party and also every party needs a good combination of experienced leaders and youth.”
“Today, Goa is facing a huge crisis... the people have suffered, economy is suffering, youth do not have jobs, the environment has been harmed. Goa is going through a big crisis and has to be saved", he said.
Earlier, he was welcomed by Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat in the presence of GPCC President Girish Chodankar, GPCC Vice President Sankalp Amonkar, GPCC Youth President Varad Mardolkar, Janardhan Bhandari, former minister Aleixo Sequeira and others.
Rao, however, has a task at hand trying to manage personality clashes of senior leaders, several of who have served as chief ministers.
On the eve of his arrival, at least two of them -- Luizinho Faleiro and Ravi Naik -- have made public statements reflecting the internal unease in the principal Opposition party which has seen its Legislative strength and electoral sheen deplete with multiple defections in the current term of the Legislature.
