MARGAO
The Congress is bracing up to go into a campaign mode later this month, but the party seemed not in a hurry to finalize the list of candidates and unveil them at least for the moment.
The issue of alliances with like-minded parties is believed to have not figured at the meeting of Congress election Coordination Committee attended by state party leaders and Party observers here on Saturday.
In fact, at the Congress election co-ordination Committee meeting here at a city hotel here on Saturday morning under the Chairmanship of Congress Election Observer, P Chidambaram, leaders were told in unequivocal terms that unveiling the names of candidates may not happen immediately.
In fact, Chidambaram is believed to have observed that the prospective candidates interested in staking claim for the party ticket should all work together and participate in the programmes organized by the party to take the Congress forward in their respective constituencies in the run up to the polls.
The exit of senior Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro and attempts made by the leadership to stop others from leaving the party figured at the meeting as a passing reference, after a member reportedly remarked that when the party ought to have been seen on the ground, the leadership is preoccupied in stopping party leaders from deserting the party.
The Congress election campaign, however, is expected to kick off anytime later this month, with Chidambaram expected to stay put in the state for some more days and ensure that all the party panels, including the block and district committees and other committees are put in place within the next one week.
A member of the Coordination panel informed that the issue of alliances did not come up for discussion during the meeting, but the members of the committee were all clear in launching the election campaign at the earliest.
“Chidambaram will be in the state for around 4-5 days, during which time the party panels will be constituted and made operational. The party should go into a campaign mode at least before the month end”, remarked a leader.
Those who attended the meeting included GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar, Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat, Working president Alexio Sequeira, MLA Reginaldo Lourenco, MP Francisco Sardinha, Martha Saldanha, Elvis Gomes, Sangeeta Parab, MK Sheikh, former Union Minister Eduardo Faleiro, besides P Chidambaram, Dinesh Gundu Rao and other observers.
This is the first meeting of the Coordination panel that was held in South Goa, the first two had taken place in the North district.
