MARGAO
The Congress leadership seemed to have resolved the crisis facing the party over the imminent exit of senior MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, capping days of speculations that the three-time MLA is set to leave the party to join the Aam Admi party.
Intense backroom discussions over the last few days and intervention of the High Command seemed to have saved the day for the Congress as Reginaldo gave a call on the occasion of his birthday to unitedly fight the BJP in the 2022 Assembly election.
Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat announced that Reginaldo will play an important role in the party in the years to come.
GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar elaborated further on Kamat’s statement saying that Reginaldo is going to play a bigger role in the days to come, not just in the next three months, but after the Congress returns to power in the State with the blessings and support of the people of Goa.
Girish went a step further saying that Reginaldo is already a face of the party in Goa, but hastened to add that the elected MLAs will decide on the choice of Chief Ministerial candidate after the election.
That’s not all. The GPCC Chief announced that the party leadership will accord due respect to the three time MLA, saying the party leadership has decided to give what is due to him considering his contribution in his fight against the issues facing the State.
Addressing the media at Reginaldo’s residence on his birthday today, the GPCC Chief and the Opposition leader showered praises on the three-time Curtorim MLA for his contribution to the Congress party and for Goa.
Against the backdrop of intense speculations that Reginaldo is leaving the party to join AAP, the briefing was aimed primarily at removing doubts and misconceptions in the minds of the people on the MLA’s exit from the party.
The GPCC Chief termed Reginaldo as a young and vibrant Goan leader, who is loved and admired by cross section of people for his fight on behalf of the people. “When there was confusion about Reginaldo, top party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Venugopal tried to address the issues raised by Reginaldo. He had no personal issues, but issues centered on Goa and his constituency”, Girish said.
He added: “Reginaldo had placed views how to protect Goa and how to go about in the future. Let me tell you, the party subscribes to the view of the MLA. We have accepted that core issues would not be compromised. We have all decided to fight the issues espoused by Reginaldo in the larger interest of Goa”.
In his address, Digambar Kamat said Reginaldo’s contribution for the party and the state cannot be denied, saying the MLA has been fighting against injustices over the years. “I was confident that as a matured leader, he will not take any hasty decision. There should be no doubt that he would play an important role in the party in the years to come”, Kamat said, adding that the Congress would unitedly fight the coming election.
While admitting that the speculations centered over him were not wrong, Reginaldo said he and all others have decided to fight the BJP in the interest of Goa. “After meeting people and seeking their opinions, the larger picture has evolved that Goa should be saved and unitedly we have to fight against the BJP”, he said.
He added: “The public opinion is that we have to unitedly fight the BJP. Let there be no differences amongst us in the fight against the BJP”.
When asked whether Reginaldo will be roped in to lead the party in the coming days, Girish said Reginaldo did not raise any Reginaldo-specific issues, saying the issues were relating to Goa and Curtorim constituency.
