State Congress leaders with members of the Congress screening committee at the South Goa district Congress office. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
The Congress Screening Committee led by Madhusudan Mistry on Saturday got down to the crucial task of seeking feedback and inputs from party leaders and workers before the party shortlists the candidates for the North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 election.
During the one-on-one interaction with the screening panel, local leaders are believed to have stressed on the need to declare the candidates at the earliest so that the party gets sufficient time to project the candidates before the electorate.
Local Congress leaders, including GPCC Chief Amit Patkar, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, MLAs Alton D’Costa and Carlos Alvares, MP Francisco Sardinha, ex-GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar, former MPs Eduardo Faleiro, Ramakant Khalap and others called on the screening panel at the South Goa District office.
The interaction which started at around 4 pm continued late through the evening with party leaders. Ticket aspirants for the South Goa seat, including sitting MP Francisco Sardinha, Girish Chodankar and Capt Viriato Fernandes also called on the screening panel. In fact, Girish was the first party leader to call on the panel members and submit his view on various issues, including the crucial issue of party ticket.
Girish later told 'The Goan' that he has briefed the panel about the results of the last three Lok Sabha elections and how the Congress could not form the government in Goa and how the MLAs had defected to the BJP.
“I was the first one to call on the panel. The panel is meeting the party leaders and after discussions, they will set in motion the process to finalise the party candidates for the two seats after a survey,” he said.
Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said the Congress party has deputed the screening panels across the country to obtain the feedback and declare the party candidates at the earliest. “We had one one-on-one meeting with the panel. We have impressed upon the panel to announce the candidates at the earliest so that the party can prepare for the elections,” he added.
South Goa District Committee president Savio D’Silva said he has submitted before the screening panel the feedback he had received from the district over the candidature. “When we had organized the Opinion Poll programme at the Lohia Maidan, we had received inputs from the party leaders over the choice of the candidates and that the party should lose no time in announcing the candidates,” he said.
