MARGAO
In a major development unfolding in the Congress camp, senior Congress leader and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro on Saturday said he felt sad and bad to see the present situation of the Congress with the party losing MLAs and elections after elections over the last four years.
Speaking his mind on the current state of party affairs, Faleiro, who is being requested in certain party quarters to take over the GPCC mantle ahead of the 2022 elections, further said that he had suggested to GPCC chief Girish Chodankar that the party should not contest the Zilla Panchayat polls on party lines as that would only stop new and dynamic leadership from emerging at the grass roots.
Without taking the name of Girish Chodankar or hitting out at the present Pradesh Congress Committee leadership, Faleiro said “What is happening in the party today. If I say that I am not sad about the state of affairs, I will be telling a lie. I feel sad and bad to see the present situation in the party and I cannot deny the fact that the situation is bad because we have lost 13 MLAs, lost all the by-polls, lost the Zilla Panchayat and Municipal polls”.
Faleiro recalled that he had quit the post of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) after some of the MLAs told him to step down on the plea that they will form the government in 2017 within 24 hours after my resignation. "After I tendered my resignation, the party leadership in Delhi did not accept my resignation. But, I had to convince both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that it’s in the interest of the party to accept my resignation from the top post”, he said.
On the Zilla Panchayat polls, Faleiro said he had asked Girish not to contest the election under party banner. “I told Girish that we should allow the new leadership to come up in the villages. I wanted the new leaders to come up and that’s how you get new and dynamic leadership at the village level”, he added.
When his attention was drawn to the charge made by outgoing Mahila Congrss chief Pratima holding him responsible for her defeat, Faleiro shot back “after I had quit the GPCC post in 2017 following some MLAs saying my resignation would help them form the government within 24 hours, I had never interfered with the party organization. After I stepped down, we had lost 13 MLAs, lost the by-polls, ZP polls and the Municipal polls, You cannot hold me responsible for all this in the last 3-4 years”.
