PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee –including its controversial chief John Fernandes who had submitted his resignation after the party lost both Lok Sabha seats– will come under the scanner, as the Congress party high command contemplates revamping the committees of seven states, including Goa, where the party failed to win even a single seat.
A high-powered Congress panel led by party veteran and former Union Defence Minister A K Antony, on Wednesday, took stock of factors leading to the party’s crushing defeat in the local parliamentary elections. The meeting, which was in-camera and one to one, was attended by Fernandes, leader of opposition Pratapsing Rane and both Lok Sabha candidates.
Speaking to media persons after his return to Goa, Fernandes said that various issues of the poll debacle were discussed at the meeting and he had also informed the committee members that the state executive committee was not revamped after party’s assembly debacle in 2012.
“Soon after the party lost the parliamentary election, I had offered my resignation to Digvijay Singh taking moral responsibility for the defeat. While Singh at that time refused to accept my resignation, the Anthony committee will take a call on the same in its report that would be submitted to Congress President (Sonia Gandhi),” Fernandes said.
The Congress state president is currently at loggerheads with the leader of opposition that culminated in a press conference presided over by him where one Naik alleged extortion by Rane and his son Vishwajit over grant of a mining lease. The matter is currently being investigated by a special investigating team of the Goa Police
During the Lok Sabha elections held on April 12, Congress party lost both seats to the BJP. It’s north Goa candidate Ravi Naik lost by over one lakh vote against BJP’s Shripad Naik, while Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco put up a good fight to BJP’s Narendra Sawaikar in the south before he lost by 30,000 votes.
