PANAJI
Gomes, a selection grade officer of the Goa Civil Service and presently posted as the Inspector General of Prisons and holding additional charge as the Director of Municipal Administration, had applied for voluntary retirement on June 28 this year.
“The Governor of Goa is pleased to accept the notice of voluntary retirement…,” the order reads.
The charge of his departments has been handed over to the link officers in his departments.
While speculation is rife that Gomes himself will plunge head on into active politics in the upcoming elections, Gomes himself didn’t confirm or deny his political plans.
“I would like to take some rest and will decide the next course of action after that. I am not ruling out any possibilities. All options are open,” Gomes told The Goan.
Gomes has been actively linked with joining the Aam Aadmi Party with AAP leader Dr Oscar Rebello calling him a ‘friend’ of the party while admitting that the officer had met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal when he was in the State.
Gomes has been an officer for over 19 years and has held various positions in government. He has also been active in the field of sports and was the President of the Goa Football Association.
Earlier in the day AAP’s Goa convenor Pankaj Gupta insisted that AAP had not taken a decision on its chief ministerial candidate and even on whether the AAP would field a chief ministerial face before the polls.
“There are several parties who have already announced their chief ministerial candidates and there are around seven to eight names doing the rounds. We have not reached that decision yet. We have to first announce the names of 40 candidates and only then perhaps we will announce a chief ministerial candidate,” Gupta told The Goan.
He said several persons including former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court were approached to join the party and contest the polls.
