Team Herald
PANJIM: Following the party debacle in the Zilla Panchayat elections, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar on Wednesday reportedly tendered his resignation from the top post with immediate effect, assuming “full responsibility” for the defeat. Chodankar, however, was not available to confirm this, despite repeated attempts even late into the night.
Sources said that Chodankar, in his letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, mentioned the loss faced by the party in ZP elections while taking full responsibility for the result.
When contacted, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat said he too is unaware of Chodankar’s resignation, and that his attempts to contact the GPCC president were unsuccessful.
Congress won just four of the 37 seats it contested in the ZP elections, held last weekend. The party polled 19.32 per cent of total votes. Senior leaders, including South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, blamed the party’s State leadership for the humiliating defeat, accusing the leadership of not taking them into confidence.
Earlier in June 2019, Chodankar had also submitted his resignation, which was not accepted by the AICC leaders. His resignation that time was on “moral grounds” after Rahul Gandhi had stepped down from the post of INC president. Congress had also lost the 2019 North Goa MP election, where Chodankar was the candidate.
