Team Herald
PANJIM: AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh faced unexpected wrath from Congress block committees over the alliance issue and ticket distribution. The block committees feel Congress should fight the 2017 Assembly elections alone as decided in July and criticised Singh for taking a stand to the contrary.
There was also opposition to Singh’s comments on the casino issue as they said the party cannot have a dual stand. Singh had said that “the party wants offshore casinos removed from River Mandovi and parked beyond one nautical mile.”
Mario Pinto, a GPCC office bearer, said, “While in Goa you speak in one tongue and while in Delhi your stand changes. When the local leaders have taken a stand how can you go against them?”
Pinto also slammed Singh over the alliance issue saying that while the party is of the view it should go alone, leaders are involved in backdoor negotiations with Vijai Sardesai.
Another speaker, Ethel Lobo from Fatorda came down heavily on the party leader’s indication of an alliance with Goa Forward, which is mentored by Sardesai. She lashed out stating how can the party trust a person who is responsible for defaming it during the earlier elections and was responsible for the party’s defeat?
Post the meeting there was outrage amongst local leaders. They left the venue the moment the meeting ended. Many expressed their displeasure at the AICC secretary’s stand on the alliance issue and entertaining older Congressmen stating that the party is still hanging on with rejected persons.
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Not joining MGP: Babu
PANJIM/CURCHOREM: Amid speculation of his switch to the Maharahstrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Quepem MLA Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar categorically denied this saying he is a ‘loyal soldier of the Congress’. However, criticising the party, he said, Congress has more CM aspirants than party workers. “Yes, I am upset over the behaviour of my party colleagues ahead of the elections over several issues but that does not mean I will desert the party at this crucial juncture,” Kavlekar told Herald in an exclusive chat. The former GIDC chairman said that with the anti-BJP sentiment in the people, the Congress has a good chance to form the next government.
“We have to work really hard and convert the resentment against the government to our advantage,” he said.
However, he said, instead of this his party officials and MLAs are thinking about their own tickets. “In some constituencies there is more than one aspiring candidate and it is for the GPCC leaders to see that there is no division if someone does not get a ticket,” he said.
Besides, Kavlekar said, “While there is no finality on whether Congress is going to form the next government, some MLAs are even talking about chief ministership. This is not the time to fight for CM’s chair. Let us first win the elections and then see.”
On his meeting with the AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, Kavlekar said, “It was a good meeting and I have expressed my sentiments to him. I have told him that with this kind of attitude and infighting we can’t win elections.”
Kavlekar said he told Singh, when he visited him at his house, that the party can come to power if there is unity among leaders and if they work for the party’s interest instead of personal interest.
On the alliance issue, he said, “A gatbandhan if not mahagatbandhan is a must to defeat the BJP. We can’t allow secular votes to be divided.”
He said Singh assured him that he will be taken into confidence when tickets are being allotted in constituencies around Quepem.
