the goan I network
MARGAO
On the back foot after the Sancoale Zilla poll fiasco, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Girish Chodankar has said that the party leadership had decided to support an independent candidate for the Sancoale seat, but the plan went awry after the Independent candidate as well as the party candidate Ujwala Naik failed to file her nomination paper.
While accepting the blame for the fiasco as the President of the Party, Girish, however, suspected the role of Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho in the entire episode, while also saying that the local party leaders might have also conspired to play mischief. “We are in touch with the local leaders to find out what went wrong for the party. The culprits will be soon known to everyone. We are hurt because the Congress could not give an option to the people of Sancoale to choose their representative,” Girish said.
Speaking to the media, the GPCC Chief said though the district Committee had recommended the name of Ujwala Premanand Naik as the party candidate for Sancoale, local party leaders were strongly rooting for a consensus independent candidate to take on the BJP. “I was in touch with CLP leader Digambar Kamat and both used to consult our local leaders how to go about it. It was finally decided that while the Congress would field the candidate, the candidate would withdraw from the fray and the party would support the consensus independent candidate”, he said, adding “the plan went wrong as both the independent candidate as well as the party candidate failed to file their papers.”
He said the party had decided to support independent candidates in three seats at Taleigao, Sancoale and Barcem based on the inputs received from the local party men.
Girish sought to blame Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho in getting the BJP candidate unopposed. “We suspect there was a conspiracy behind the fiasco. Who were the players involved in the conspiracy will be known in the next few days,” he said, while saying the party has initiated investigations into the fiasco.
