It was the party that got the highest number of seats in the 2017 Assembly elections and throughout the term would remind all of this. As the five year term of the State Legislative Assembly approaches the end and another election nears, it does appear that this was the only feat that the Congress in Goa was able to achieve. In the rest of the term it did nothing much other than periodically lose its MLAs to other parties. Congress in Goa got 17 MLAs elected in 2017 and another in 2019 in a by-election. In all during the current term of the Assembly it had 18 MLAs elected. Today it is left with two as 16 have parted ways with the party on whose symbol they were elected. Of the 16 MLAs that quit the party, 14 have joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and one has gone to the Trinamool Congress. Another is expected to join the latter.
One had assumed that the exodus of MLAs would stop when the first list of party candidates was released last week and it featured the names of two of the three MLAs that were still with the party. The surprise was that one of the MLAs who had been re-nominated for a party ticket, quit the party, indicating that party tickets was not going to stop the mass departure from the party. While the exit of Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has astonished most of Goa, it may not have come as such to the party. State Congress president Girish Chodankar, speaking after Lourenco’s departure from the party said that to many people this may not be shocking. A question the Chodankar and the party would have to answer is, if this is not shocking to them, why was the name of the MLA included in the first list of candidates for the 2022 polls? Isn’t this further embarrassment to the party?
As party leaders – not just MLAs – depart from the Congress the leadership abilities of Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat and State party chief Chodankar come under a scanner. Questions had already been asked in the past and this matter even been thoroughly debated, but as the elections are now just weeks away, can Congress risk facing the electorate under this dual leadership that has not been able to hold on to the party leaders? This, the party has to introspect upon and it has little time to do so. Of the 18 MLAs the party had, 16 have quit and none of them to retire. It definitely calls for a lot of reflection on the part of the Congress in the State and merely stating that ‘these are selfish leaders who put self-interest over that of others’ does not absolve the party leadership. If he was selfish, why was he awarded a party ticket for the next elections?
From a cursory reading of the current political situation, Congress goes to the 2022 polls weakened considerably, with its stalwarts having cut ties and now sprinkled across other political formations. But, can the party turn this into an advantage? The answer to the question depends on how the party handles the situation. The resignations do give Congress the opportunity to revamp and recoup for the 2022 elections. Signs of resurgence are not yet visible in the party, for if there were, then leaders would not be taking leave of the Congress. The party leadership has to display some dynamism to change the perception that is settling upon the people that Congress is no longer the force it once was. For party workers this is demoralising and the Congress has to close this chapter and begin a new one. Only that, and nothing else, could help it regain it past prominence.
