the goan I network
MARGAO
With just five months to go for the Zilla Panchayat polls in the State, the Congress leadership is still undecided whether to contest the ensuing district panchayat polls on the party banner or allow prospective party men to fight the polls in their individual capacity.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Girish Chodankar was more forthright when he told The Goan that the party is yet to take a call on contesting the ZP polls on party banner or go by the resolution adopted by the Pradesh Congress Committee around five years ago against contesting the Zilla Panchayat polls on the party banner.
He, however, was quick to point out that the Congress leadership, being aware of the coming polls for the district panchayat body, has started the process of zeroing in on prospective candidates for the North and South Goa Zilla Panchayat bodies.
Leader of the Opposition, Digambar Kamat echoed similar sentiments. He said the Congress party will deliberate on the issue in the run up to the ZP polls and take a call. Kamat said the Congress had decided not to contest the 2015 ZP polls on party lines, on the simple reason that political parties should not interfere at the grassroot panchayat bodies.
While opposing the BJP government’s decision to hold the Zilla Panchayat polls on party lines, on the plea that elections on party lines does not augur well for the panchayat institutions, the Congress party under the leadership of then GPCC chief Luizinho Faleiro had adopted a resolution not to contest the ZP polls on party lines.
“The GPCC resolution against contesting the ZP polls taken around five years ago still stands. This implies that the Congress cannot contest the ZP polls on party lines unless that resolution is revoked or withdrawn,” Girish told The Goan.
Saying he is open for a free and frank decision on the issue, whether the Congress should contest the ZP election on party lines, Girish, however, said that the party will take a collective call on any decision over the issue of contesting the ZP polls on party lines.
After the Congress decided against contesting the 2015 ZP polls, the BJP contested the election on their party banner before taking control of the ZP bodies with the support of the MGP, which was then its coalition partner.
MGP against alliance, to go it alone
MARGAO: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party will contest the ensuing Zilla Panchayat polls independent without entering into any alliance with other parties. MGP leader and former PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar told The Goan that though the MGP had supported the BJP to form the ZP bodies after the 2015 ZP polls, the party will fight the election independently.
When asked whether the MGP will put up an united front, with a possible tie-up with the Congress against the BJP in the ensuing polls, Dhavalikar wondered whether the Congress party is still existing in the State. “I really do not know where is the Congress in the State. I have nothing to say on the main opposition party when the disqualification petition against the 10 Congress MLAs had to be signed by the party president,” Dhavalikar said, adding ‘for the moment, all I can say is that the MGP will contest the ZP polls in both the districts’.
