the goan I network
MARGAO
Congress Legislature Party leader Digambar Kamat’s statement that the Congress would seek floor coordination with the Goa Forward Party and the MGP has raised many an eyebrow in the party circles.
A day after Kamat unveiled his initiative to ensure floor coordination with the opposition parties to put the government on the mat, the statement has come under the scanner of the local leadership of the party as well as the party leaders in Delhi.
With the Goa Forward Party yet to sever ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the MGP still to officially withdraw support to Pramod Sawant government, party leadership in private is questioning Kamat’s plan to work in the Assembly in close coordination with the Goa Forward and the MGP.
A senior party leader pointed out that the Congress may not have any objection for floor coordination with the opposition parties in the Assembly but he hastened to add whether the two regional parties, Goa Forward and the MGP have severed all ties with the NDA and the Sawant government. “Technically, both the regional parties may be party of the ruling dispensation, notwithstanding that the two parties have suffered
at the hands of the BJP’, the leader added.
When The Goan called up GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar to shed light on Kamat’s statement and to comment
whether the party endorses the views expressed by the Opposition leader, he said the party will go by the sentiments of the people of Goa. “The stand of the GPCC is clear that the party should not have any truck with the defectors as well as all those who had helped the BJP to come to power against the public mandate. As far as the Congress Legislature party is concerned, we leave it to the wisdom of the Legislature wing to take decisions”, Girish said, while steering himself clear of the situation.
Sources in Congress circles said that the local party leadership has already brought the matter to the notice of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Goa desk in-charge, Dr Chella Kumar. Chella, however, was not available for comment on the matter on Monday evening.
Kamat’s statement has come under the scanner of the Congress leadership at a time when the Goa Forward has not left the NDA till date. The Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai was in Delhi during the weekend, and has returned home without the regional party severing ties with the NDA.
A senior Congress leader even remarked that while Sardesai has gone hammer and thongs against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, he was silent on the party’s relationship with the NDA, which is led by the BJP.
