MARGAO
Two-time Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco on Friday said he is ready to take over the reigns of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) if the party High Command requests him to shoulder the responsibility ahead of the 2017 Assembly poll.
He, however, hastened to add that neither he has lobbied for the GPCC top post nor he has been approached by party leaders, saying that he will consult party MLAs and other leaders before taking a call in the event the party leadership agrees to relieve incumbent PCC Chief Luizinho Faleiro from the post.
“Let me make it clear I am not after the PCC post. But, at the same time, I am ready to shoulder the responsibility in the interest of the party. I know the task is huge and the time is short in view of the coming election”, Reginaldo said.
The Curtorim MLA pointed out that he had been vocal in taking up issues of public interest both inside and outside the Legislative Assembly during the last four years. “I had never shied away in taking up issues of public interest, both inside and outside the Assembly. The party leadership is aware of the work put in by me as a Legislator”, he said.
Sources in the know said though Reginaldo’s name has been doing the rounds as Luizinho’s successor, the High Command is yet to take a call on the PCC leadership issue with the incumbent President insisting on being relieved from the post. It is learnt that Reginaldo had recently air-dashed to the national capital and is believed to have called on leaders connected with party affairs relating to the State. However, it is not known whether Reginaldo’s name as the likely successor will find favour with the Luizinho camp, especially when the camp had in the past accused the two-time party Legislator of trying to stop some new faces from joining the party.
Incidentally, Reginaldo is one Congress MLA, who have been consistent in his demand for bringing in good and new faces in the party keeping in mind the sentiments and aspirations of the Goan people. “Yes, I was one party leader who was persistently demanding good faces. People of Goa are ready to bring the Congress back to power. But, at the same time, they would like the party to promote new and good faces. I have been supporting this demand and will continue to do so irrespective of my status in the Congress party”, Reginaldo told The Goan.
