It s Never Say Old for Congress PEC

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n ongress party is yet to define its concept of ‘young’. Going by the age of members of its recently appointed 20-member Pradesh Election Committee (PEC), the average age of their ‘youth’ is around 57 to 59 years.

A quick look at the composition of Congress PEC, which has been in the eye of the storm for over a week, shows that the committee comprises five broad categories vis a vis GPCC president, who is the chairperson; chiefs of four frontal organizations of GPCC, who are ex-officio members; six MLAs and one MP; five Congressmen who have lost elections in the past and three party seniors.

Of these, the youngest is the president of National Students Union of India Ahraz Mulla while the eldest is Leader of Opposition Pratapsing Raoji Rane at 77.

While the average age of the PEC itself hovers between 57 and 59 years, the average age of seven elected representatives from the party is also 56 to 57 years with Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane and Quepem MLA Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar being the youngest at 45 years.

Commenting on the stand of the seven young Congressmen, GPCC secretary Durgadas Kamat said, “Whatever has to be communicated, I have communicated to my high command. I have informed them about the sentiments of people in the state. We have to go with new faces and not tainted people, who have been indicted in drug cases and other illegalities.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Incidentally, leaving aside the four ex-officio members, at least 11 of the 16 members have been linked with some irregularities or the other in the past.

In addition to this, one-fourth of the committee comprises members who have lost Assembly elections in 2012 and Lok Sabha elections in 2014.

According to the rebel Congressmen, this rough picture offers a vague justification for demand of a group of younger Congressmen for dissolution of PEC and constitution of a new one comprising young and untainted faces.

Presently, the storm which has gathered momentum continues to rage within the Congress with arrows of words flying between the old guard and a group of young leaders of the party over the appointment of the PEC.

Muck has hit the ceiling with All India Congress Committee Vice President Rahul Gandhi taking cognizance of the strife with Assembly polls around the corner. However, top brass of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee continue to deny that GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro was summoned to New Delhi.

A surprisingly united GPCC has also refused to comment on the inputs that GPCC president has been given two options, either to step down or to reconstitute the PEC.

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* Luizinho Faleiro, GPCC president (Chairman) 64

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* Pratapsing Rane, Leader of Opposition & Poriem MLA (Member) 77

* Shantaram Naik, Member of Rajya Sabha (Member) 67

* Digambar Kamat, former Chief Minister & Margao MLA (Member) 62

* Pandurang Madkaikar, Cumbarjua MLA (Member) 51

* Chandrakant Kavlekar, Quepem MLA (Member) 45

* Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Curtorim MLA (Member) 47

* Vishwajit Rane, Valpoi MLA (Member) 45

* Girish Chodankar, secretary AICC (Member) 47

* Ravi Naik, former Chief Minister (Member) 68

* Subhash Shirodkar (Member) 62

* Ramakant Khalap, former Union Minister (Member) 68

* Manohar Azgaonkar (Member) 61

* MK Shaikh, GPCC vice president (Member) 68

* Pramod Salgaokar, GPCC vice president (Member) *

* Moti Desai, GPCC vice president (Member) *

* Sunita Verenkar, Mahila Congress president (ex-officio member) *

* Shankar Kirlapalkar, Seva Dal chief (ex-officio member) *

* Xavier Fialho, Youth Congress president (ex-officio member) *

* Ahraz Mulla, NSUI president (ex-officio member) *

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YOUNGEST: Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane and Quepem MLA Chandrakant ‘Babu’ Kavlekar at 45 years