PRATIK PARAB
pratik@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: In anger and total disarray, the Congress young guard has vehemently objected to the oldies of the Congress party trying to gain a back entry into active politics just on the face of the 2022 Assembly elections.
The young workers, handling various important block level posts, have said that the leaders who have been doing politics of connivance and convenience in Goa Congress, should be kept away for the betterment of the Congress in Goa.
The recent appointment of Congress block presidents in South and North Goa suggested a pattern where some old leaders were trying to effect re-entry into the Congress by means of their men at the helm of affairs at the block level of the party. It is widely believed that the block Congress presidents of Cuncolim and Nuvem are supporters of former MLAs Joaquim Alemao and Aleixo Sequeira respectively.
The Opposition Leader and a Congress old timer Digambar Kamat has toned down this as a common practice of selecting workers who can run the block and keep the Congress flock together at the block levels. However, an old Congress worker who has been with the Congress for over 20 years from Pernem Block quit the party recently due to absolute non-cooperation from the grand old party and says that all is not well within.
Some Congress frontal organisation leaders and workers too are in touch with the BJP for quitting the party.
The party workers have lost their calm now. These are workers who have been involved in the functioning of the Congress for not one or two but 25 or 30 years. The example of Subhash Kerkar from the Congress Pernem block is a recent example. Kerkar has quit the secretary post of GPCC, the membership of Pernem block and also the primary membership of the Congress party recently. He told Herald that ever since Girish Chodankar took over in 2018 as GPCC president, he has been repeatedly asking the Congress to hold block meetings.
“For the last three years there has not been one block meeting in Pernem. They tried to convince me, I waited for four months but can’t take it now,” he said, adding that he was a loyal Congressman for two decades and his entire family has been with the party for the last 35 years.
Digging deep into the ways of how Congress is currently operating, Kerkar said that there are two circles in the party – the party leadership and the legislative leadership. Both these circles are promoting and praising each other with no concern for the party.
An old Congress worker from Nuvem block, Everson Valles, who was a front -runner for the Nuvem ticket in the 2017 Assembly elections, till he got edged out said, “The State leadership is eroded and the Congress workers in the village level who are in disarray now need some motivation. The party has to announce 35 new faces for the 35 vacancies we have in constituencies of Goa.”
He said that a trigger of a good new leadership for Congress workers in Goa will ease the task of Congress to secure a win in the upcoming election.
Hinting at his Nuvem constituency, Valles said, “Check the records and recall who has overthrown the Luizinho Faleiro government in the past. People have to recall. He termed that the old leaders who are trying to get back into the mainstream of Congress have been arrogant and doing anti-party work all the way.
Speaking on Congressmen switching sides, Valles said there is need to find out the allegiance of the persons before they get tickets of Congress.
Another Congressman infused an interesting perspective when he said, “In 2017 the Congress almost formed the government because it tried out new faces and kept the old guard out. We have to move on the same track or the party gets regressive and won’t find support of the people.”
Congress spokesperson Urfan Mulla said, “The senior leaders of the Congress have not helped the party work even a bit for all these years. We don’t expect monetary help but we expected moral help from them which they haven’t given the party workers.”
He added, “All that our senior leaders have today is because of the party that is Congress, but they have given back nothing to the party. This time again, these senior leaders want to play a major role in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly election. But, we have decided, we are not going to allow them to do it again. We need their guidance for the future of the Congress party but now the young leadership of Congress will take decisions.”
Former Chief Minister and member of the ‘old guard’ club Digambar Kamat, defended the selection of the new block presidents. “The selection of the block president is on the criteria of his capacity, of working barring his allegiance. He has to mobilise the other 25 or 30 workers and a person with capacity gets the position.”
But the mood in the party, and also perhaps in the minds of the people, is clear. No more rewinding to the old guard. The Congress needs fresh faces to face fresh challenges.
