Team Herald
PANJIM: All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary and Goa desk in-charge Digvijay Singh on Saturday said the party is preparing to contest all 40 Assembly constituencies in the 2017 Goa elections.
Addressing party workers, Singh said that the elections in Goa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are big challenges for the Congress and have to be fought like a war to challenge the BJP and AAP. “We have to enthuse the workers, we have to pump them up, we have to fight. A demoralised party cannot fight elections. A demoralised army cannot fight wars. This is a war for us,” Singh said.
Taking on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Singh said that AAP is contesting in Goa to support BJP. “Nitin Gadkari has admitted that AAP will eat into Congress votes. We have been saying this right from the beginning. If there is any gathbandhan in this country, it is between BJP and AAP. They are two faces of the same coin. They are together and each of them is helping the other,” he said.
He said the party has started the process of finalising candidates for the polls and that most of the block committees have sent their recommendations on candidates. “Wherever there is unanimity and no more than one aspirant, we shall announce those names first,” he said.
Singh said that the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) meeting will held on September 26 in which all the views and issues will be discussed about the candidates and alliance. “The first meeting of PCC is going to be held on September 26. Consultations are taking place and where there is total unanimity and where there is no other candidate, we shall declare that candidate early. Wherever there are three to five candidates, we should have mahagathbandhan of the Congress candidates within the party,” Singh said.
He reiterated that the party is preparing to contest in all 40 seats and the alliance issue will be also discussed by the party’s central election committee.
“We have to strategise, do we want to form the government or don’t want to form the government. Politics is a game of numbers. At the same time, there has to be consensus amongst the Congress workers who will stand by the party. Therefore we have to look at the sentiments of the Congress people,” Singh said.
He promised the party workers that nothing will be done at midnight and whatever has to be done would be done in day light.
He said that State and regional leadership should be given more authority. “I would be the last person to enforce any decision on the Congress party leadership of Goa. I am here to facilitate. We don’t have likes or dislikes, we don’t have any candidates. We don’t have any favourites and non-favourites,” he said.
Singh said the party will hold meetings of SC, ST, OBC businessmen and farmers in October and also a workers convention.
He also said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a creature of the Vivekanand Foundation which is a think tank of BJP and RSS. “He is only targeting Congress. He is a part of Congress Mukt Bharat campaign of BJP and RSS combine,” Singh mentioned.
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‘Madkaikar issue is media creation’
PANJIM: Congress Goa desk in-charge Digvijay Singh on Saturday said that speculation about Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar joining the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) has been created by the media.
Reacting to the speculation of the Congress MLA joining hands with MGP, Singh said the news is not correct. “I think this is a media creation. We are in touch with all MLAs and this is not correct. We are in touch with Madkaikar also. He is a senior Congress leader and is also general secretary of the local unit,” Singh said. He said there might have been some confusion but that would be resolved.
Madkaikar who first won on an MGP ticket had not ruled out the possibility of going back to the party and had said the options were open. MGP leader Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar had also said they are in touch with Madkaikar and another Congress MLA to contest the 2017 polls on MGP tickets.
