the goan I network
MARGAO
With the Congress left with just five MLAs in the Legislative Assembly after the 10 party MLAs switched over to the BJP last week, many a political observer must have thought that All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Chellakumar would have a relatively easy task at hand to chose a new Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader.
The ground reality, however, proved different. Even as the five MLAs “ Pratapsing Rane, Digambar Kamat, Ravi Naik, Luizniho Faleiro and Reginaldo Lourenco were expected to go into a huddle and settle the leadership issue amongst themselves, the AICC general secretary had to decide the leadership issue via the secret ballot.
And, if sources are to be believed, the names of as many as three MLAs, Digambar Kamat, Ravi Naik and Reginaldo Lourenco figured on the ballot even as Luizinho Faleiro and Pratapsing Rane had opted out of the process and had in fact told Chellakumar they are not in the race for the post.
Sources said while Digambar, Rane, Luizinho and Ravi voted for the ballot system to elect CLP leader, Reginaldo wasn’t in favour of it. That’s not all, Reginaldo was the lone MLA amongst the five who did not attend the meeting with Chellakumar along with others, but is believed to have called on the AICC
general secretary at Hotel Nanutel late on Saturday night.
Sources in the know said Reginaldo did not go with the ballot paper voting for the simple reason that he would accept the CLP post only if given by the party.
When the AICC general secretary was called by The Goan on Sunday evening to shed light on the election of the new CLP leader, Chellakumar said he resorted to the ballot system to elect the new leader so that the entire process is conducted in a transparent manner. Sources said Chellakumar adopted a cautious approach in the election of the new CLP leader so that fingers are not pointed at him for imposing someone as the CLP leader.
“I have followed the process after consulting all the five MLAs. The ballots were used to ensure the process was carried out in a transparent manner. I will discuss the matter with the party leadership in Delhi before announcing the new CLP leader,” Chellakumar told The Goan.
Incidentally, the Congress leadership had resorted to the ballot system to elect the CLP leader after the 2017 Assembly election result was out on March 11. And, if sources are to be believed around 13 out of the 17 MLAs had cast their vote in favour of Luizinho Faleiro.
