Astruggling Congress will not contest the Zilla Panchayat polls, but will instead support candidates from the party ranks who will contest as Independents. The reason – or is it an excuse – that the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) has proffered for abstaining from fielding candidates is that there is no level playing field in the polls and that the reservation of wards has not been announced. They alleged that there is ‘complete match-fixing by BJP to ensure its victory’. This is politics and Congress should have been prepared for whatever may have come their way in the ZP polls. Plainly the party is not prepared and is finding reasons to explain a possible rout in the polls, even before the notification for the elections can be released.
After the debacle of the past few months when it was reduced from 17 MLAs to 5 in the State Legislative Assembly, Congress should have grabbed the opportunity to go to the people in the ZP areas and wrest the initiative in preparation for the 2022 polls that are just two years away. Past experience has shown that the ZPs have been stepping stones for the future MLAs who have gauged their strength and support in these elections and then gone on to play in the larger arena of the Assembly polls. A few have made the successful transition from being ZP members to MLAs, and this is what Congress should have eyed, considering that it will have to field new faces in various constituencies two years from now.
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The Congress story in Goa of the last three years has been one of constant setbacks, with no move being made to revitalise the party that is still the main opposition. Take for instance the fact that the State president of the party, Girish Chodankar, resigned his post in May last year soon after the Lok Sabha elections. He did it as most others did, but still continues at the helm solely because the party at the national level is almost rudderless with a stopgap arrangement of a National president. This is affecting the party, not just in Goa, but across the country and it is plain to any political observer that the morale of the workers is down.
Tweeting a newspaper report where Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit was quoted as saying the party has failed in finding a president, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “What Sandeep Dikshit said openly is what dozens of party leaders from across the country are saying privately, including many with responsible positions in the party. I renew my appeal to the CWC (Congress Working Committee) to hold leadership elections to energise workers and inspire voters.” When a Congress MP as senior as Tharoor makes such a request, the party needs to take notice. The Delhi result where it again failed to win a single seat should awaken the party to the fact that it needs to reinvent itself, if it desires to remain relevant in a changing political situation.
Coming back to the party in Goa, the decision not contest the ZP polls has been taken by the CLP that will now convey it to the organisation. Congress had earlier planned to contest the polls on the party symbol, so it now depends on the party organisation of taking the final decision. Whether it will accept the CLP proposal of backing independent candidates or decide that it will be better for the party to contest the polls on the party symbol depends on Chodankar and the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee. Will they go against the decision of the CLP, or will they toe the line of the legislators and sit back in the ZP polls?
