PANJIM: As the Congress failed to stem the exodus of leaders in Goa, the party unit feels it’s high time that Central leadership “introspect” and put in efforts to bring in structural reforms with an eye on the 2024 parliamentary elections.
With parliamentary elections due in just two years, Congress leaders accept that they will have to overhaul the party completely creating space for new, young and hardcore leaders.
Some leaders in Goa took a jibe at their former colleagues — Kapil Sibal, Sunil Jakhar and Hardik Patel — who have quit in quick succession after the Chintan Shivir, stating “they got everything from Congress but left for their personal selfish gain”.
But senior-most leader Digambar Kamat chose to remain silent while the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president chose to remain unavailable.
Interestingly, there are two different faces that even Goa Congress leaders are putting forth. In public, they took a jibe at their former heavyweight colleagues who have recently quit the party but in private conversations they said that the slide is almost irreversible without immediate removal of all members of the ruling Gandhi family from party control.
Speaking to HERALD, Leader of the Opposition Michael Lobo said that the party needs to introspect as to what went wrong and work on to bring in structural reforms at the earliest.
“Introspection is required. Party needs to work out a strategy. The party needs to be completely rebuilt. It intends to go with a comprehensive re-organisation. We need a road map for 2024 as well as for the States where elections are coming this year. People come and go but we need to understand why and work on that aspect,” he added.
Leaders namely Digambar Kamat preferred to remain silent on the entire issue, while the party president Amit Patkar remained unavailable for the comments.
