MARGAO: With the Congress scouting for a leader to head the party in the Legislative Assembly with Leader of the Opposition Babu Kavlekar along with nine other MLAs embracing the BJP, former CM Digambar Kamat on Thursday said he has not given any thought to leading the party.
“I have not given any thought to shouldering any responsibility even if the party asks me to take over the leadership. I had just come to meet the AICC general secretary A Chellakumar,” he told waiting media persons after calling on Chellakumar at a city hotel here on Thursday morning.
When asked what lies in store for the Congress with CLP leader Kavlekar in the BJP and GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar having put in his papers, Kamat said the Congress is one party which has a sizeable base across the state.
“We have voters in every constituency. It is the leaders who have been ditching the party,” he said, adding that the Anti-Defection law will have to be re-defined if the current state of affairs continue.
Trying to remove certain misconceptions that Congress leadership had delayed forming of an alternate government in Goa, finally prompting the 10 MLAs to desert the party, Chellakumar said the party leadership never blocked Digambar from forming an alternative government.
“We had never delayed nor stopped any of the Congress leaders, including Digambar from forming an alternate government. Appointing Girish as GPCC Chief is one thing and formation of government is another,” he said, when the media sought to know whether the Congress had let go the opportunity to form government after the party failed to appoint Digambar as GPCC Chief.
“Party leadership had appointed Girish as GPCC Chief. It was for MLAs to elect a leader to head the government. It is a misconception that the High Command blocked Digambar from forming government. We had given free hand to the MLAs to form government in the last two years. All we wanted was to get the communal BJP out of office,” he added.
