PANJIM, FEB 3
Bracing for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, the Congress High Command today revamped Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) dropping some senior office-bearers and infusing fresh blood — 58 % are new faces.
Headed by President Subhash Shirodkar, the GPCC will now have five vice-presidents, six general secretaries instead of 10-plus, 14 secretaries and a treasurer. Subhash Phaldesai has been retained as South Goa district president while a higher secondary school teacher from Aldona, Amarnath Panjikar is appointed as the new North Goa district president.
Announcing the new list of office-bearers, Shirodkar said the list has been approved by AICC president Sonia Gandhi and conveyed by General Secretary in-charge of Goa desk B K Hariprasad.
Due representation has been given to all sections of the society — SC, ST, OBC and minorities — in an attempt to have proper social engineering, Shirodkar said addressing a press conference here where the new list was announced.
For the first time, OBC women have been appointed on positions of vice-president, general secretary (one each) and secretary (3). Altogether five women find position in the new committee, he said.
Out of the 26 office bearers in the new list, 15 are new faces while 11 have been retained to have a balance between experienced senior office bearers and fresh blood. Three vice-presidents who have been retained are M K Shaikh, Domnic Fernandes and Luis Alex Mama) Cardozo. Former minister Chandrakant Chodankar who joined the Congress from NCP on the eve of last assembly election, has been made vice-president. The new face is Subhasini Govekar.
Among the six general secretaries, those who have been retained are: Artur Sequeira, Altinho Gomes, Vijay Sardesai and Vishnu Wagh. The outgoing treasurer Rupa Bhakta and Nitin Kavlekar are the other general secretaries.
Some of the prominent seniors who are not on the new committee are Shambubhau Bandekar, Ulhas Parab, Dessai, Salim Kazi, N Shivdas among others.
The new Secretaries include Farrel Furtado, Dinar Tarcar, Ezilda Sapeco, Savio de Souza, Tribolo de Souza, Mangaldas Mandrekar, Atul Verlekar, Babi Bagkar, Shaikh Hassan Mansoor, Govind Phaldesai, Anuradha Diukar, Mario Moraes, Vijay Pai and Damodar Korgaonkar.
Shirodkar said regional balance is also maintained with 14 office bearers from South and 12 from North Goa.
Five office bearers are directly promoted from Youth Congress which includes Mangaldas Mandrekar, Govind Faldesai, Shaikh Hassan Mansoor and former GPYC vice-president Dinar Tarcar.
All the office-bearers will be given responsibilities and will be made accountable, Shirodkar asserted. The new executive will also be announced within a month, sources said. The district committees will also be constituted within two weeks, Shirodkar added.
