Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar has accepted the responsibility for the defeats in three by-polls and his own candidature for North Goa Lok Sabha.
Addressing the media he said, “We accept the mandate given by the people and I as the party president I take complete responsibility for the defeat of our candidates in the three Assembly constituencies and the Lok Sabha constituency. I have fallen short of fulfilling my responsibility in the campaign as the entire team of the party has unitedly worked in these elections.”
He further expressed gratitude towards the people of Panjim and South Goa who elected the Congress candidates. “We thank the people for their support and for giving our candidates victory in Panjim and South Goa. I thank the people of Goa who trusted us and voted for us. Even in North Goa despite the national trend, I am thankful to the people for giving me such a large vote share,” he added.
Responding to a question on the reasons for the party’s debacle, he said, “We will introspect on the reasons when we meet. I can say that they (BJP) have been successful in convincing people that what they are saying is correct. We failed in convincing them. There has been polarisation and we have seen that effect in Goa too.”
Leader of Opposition Chandrakant Babu Kavalekar stated that the mandate of the people has to be respected and the party is grateful to those who have had faith in them despite them not making it to the winning numbers.
On the addition of one seat in the Assembly, he said, “The government should work with the Opposition and take the Opposition’s criticism positively. We have cooperated with them whenever needed even in the House and we will do it in future too.”
Responding to the claims of BJP President Vinay Tendulkar that two Congress MLAs are willing to join the BJP, Kavalekar said: “We have a mandate of the people and we have to respect that. While we have lost some seats we have also won an Assembly seat as well as Lok Sabha seat.”
