MARGAO
As the Congress leadership put up a united front on the eve of the Goy Rakhon Yatra, scheduled for a grand launch on Tuesday, the principal opposition party may face a host of critical questions, particularly over internal leadership and how it plans to engage with like-minded political parties to take on the BJP in the 2027 Assembly elections.
Aimed at mobilising party workers, supporters and well-wishers ahead of the electoral battle, the yatra comes at a time when the leadership tussle within the Congress has left the organisation unsettled, while questions over its alliance strategy with non-BJP parties remain unresolved.
The party also faces questions over how it will deal with political leaders seeking to join its ranks while maintaining a balance with loyal workers who have been preparing for the upcoming elections.
These issues continue to confront the Congress leadership despite its efforts to project the party as being in a position of strength. The party has portrayed the yatra as an attempt to take the fight to the BJP by highlighting what it describes as the ruling party’s fast-track approach towards the sale of the state’s land resources.
Leadership question remains
While the leadership issue appeared to have been settled following the appointment of Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Girish Chodankar as Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president, the matter appears to be far from closed.
The removal of Amit Patkar as GPCC chief is now a past chapter, but sources said some well-wishers of the Congress are still working on a possible middle-ground solution under which Chodankar could voluntarily step aside to contest the coming polls and propose another leader from his camp to head the party during the election campaign.
Sources said well-wishers of the Congress party from Salcete, who do not hold any brief for former GPCC chief Amit Patkar, are exploring whether the Congress leadership could consider a new face to lead the party in the forthcoming elections while reassuring Chodankar that he would continue to have a decisive role in the party’s decision-making process.
“We are well-wishers of the Congress party. We have nothing against Chodankar and hold no brief for Patkar. We are trying to work out a solution to the Congress leadership issue wherein a new face leads the party in the coming elections,” a Congress well-wisher said.
Venugopal visit may signal continuity
The visit of AICC general secretary KC Venugopal to Goa to launch the Goy Rakhon Yatra could, according to party circles, rule out any immediate change in the Congress leadership.
For, during his previous visit to Goa, when the party was caught in the midst of the leadership tussle, Venugopal had strongly backed Chodankar and given him a clean chit, effectively ruling out any immediate possibility of a change at the top.
Since then, the Congress has focused on strengthening its organisation, a process that culminated in the visit of party national president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Alliance strategy under scrutiny
The Congress has entered into an alliance with the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), but questions remain over how it will proceed with the Goa Forward Party (GFP), which has entered into an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
With several national leaders expected to visit Goa during the month-long Goy Rakhon Yatra, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, there is speculation within political circles over whether the party’s central leadership will seek to bring more like-minded parties into its alliance fold during the campaign.
After the Congress-GFP alliance came under strain following the regional party’s tie-up with the AAP a week ago, hopes have once again emerged of a possible electoral understanding between the Congress and GFP, with Congress leaders going to the town to say the party doors are still open for the Goa Forward Party.
However, the two parties are yet to resolve fundamental questions surrounding their alliance, including whether the Congress wants GFP to merge with the party or whether it is prepared to continue with an alliance and work out a seat-sharing arrangement for the 2027 elections.
Sources are now wondering whether these issues will be addressed during the month-long yatra or left to be settled in the months ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.
