GPCC begins hunt for president
TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The hunt for the next Goa Pradesh Congress Party (GPCC) President has begun. While the final appointment will take place only after the elections to the president are over, talks with AICC secretary Sudhakar Reddy have already begun to shortlist names.
But, this time around, the Congress will be having a very limited choice as among its nine elected MLAs, a majority of them have several skeletons in their closets. And eager to improve its image among the public, the Congress is likely to look beyond its old guard for the GPCC president’s post to ensure that a relatively clean, new and possibly young face takes over.
And the initial names doing the rounds are that of Ramakant Khalap, Jitendra Deshprabhu, current working president and MP Francisco Sardinha, his bete noire Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco and that of Surendra Furtado, who has been a CCP councillor for many years now.
However with the Congress also looking for a ‘Catholic’ face, Ramakant Khalap and Jitendra Deshprabhu might just not make the final list. Especially since, the loyalty of Khalap to the party has been questioned in the past and he’s also seen as a pro-Marathi politician. As for Deshprabhu, he has the case of illegal mining hanging like a sword over his head.
With Francisco Sardinha preoccupied as the Chairman of the Estimates committee of the Lok Sabha, a post which has the rank of minister of state and with Reginaldo gunning for the post of Deputy Leader of Opposition in the assembly, it leaves Furtado and possibly Reginaldo in the race for the post.
However, it is still early days and lobbying with the AICC observer is learnt to be fierce and is likely to gain momentum in the coming weeks.