MARGAO
Asserting that he is not in the race for the post of GPCC President after Girish Chodankar put in his paper, veteran Congress leader and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro said a successful leader should be able to identify, promote and nurture new leaders to take the party forward.
Saying he had tried to bring in new leadership from the grassroots during his last stint as party president, Faleiro said the party had won 17-plus seats in 2017 and was all set to form the Congress-led government, but then AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh thought otherwise and the party lost the opportunity of coming to power in 2017.
Saying that he does not know what went wrong with the party in the Zilla Panchayat polls, Faleiro, however, said it was a very painful situation for the party for having managed to win only four seats.
“As a Congressman, I feel pained at the ZP results. I am sure the party will decide on the new GPCC President in the interest of the party. During my tenure as GPCC Chief, the party did not contest the election on party lines since it was his philosophy and belief that political parties should not contest municipal, panchayat and zilla elections. I had requested Girish Chodankar whether he can follow his decision, but he said the party has decided to contest the ZP election on the party banner,” he said.
Batting for young faces to shoulder responsibility of the party to take it to greater heights in Goa, Faleiro recalled that he was instrumental in giving tickets to new faces in 2017 and the results were there for all to see. “That’s why I say a successful leader should be able to identify and promote new leadership to take over the party affairs,” he said, while reminding that one cannot lead from the top but from the villages.
Meanwhile, Faleiro has reassured the villagers of Navelim that they need not worry about water availability during the ensuing festive season, saying the infrastructure laid by him will take care of their water requirement.
