PANJIM: The brouhaha over the formation of the new Pradesh Election Committee, infused with old timers has taken a new twist with the GPCC president Luizinho Faleiro distancing himself from playing a part in the selection of the state election committee riddled with old faces.
Faleiro, interestingly told Herald that he wasn’t consulted before the formation of the newly announced PEC which has as many as 19 members plus 5 from frontal organisations, seven more than the earlier PEC constituted end of October 2014, which incidentally has not been disbanded. The announcement of the new PEC was signed by AICC’s Janardhan Dwivedi. Sources in the GPCC stated that the AICC general secretary Digvijaya Singh had given the all clear for this committee. Mr Faleiro said, “I wished I had been consulted before the formation of this committee”.
In a conversation with Herald, Mr Faleiro said, “I do not wish to be known as the father of the grandfathers. I have made it clear that at least 50 per cent of the tickets will be given to new faces. That hasn’t changed.”
Stating that the party constitution makes it mandatory for former Chief Ministers and PCC chiefs to be included, he said he hadn’t discussed or suggested the reconstitution or the formation of a new PEC. “I am not prepared to take the blame for being a patron of the grandfathers. I’m not because I have made my stand on new faces very clear.”
The GPCC president’s claim of not being consulted raises a few worrisome questions. At whose behest was the committee constituted? If this was orchestrated by Digvijaya Singh, then why wasn’t the GPCC president taken into confidence? Thirdly, it is believed that some Congressmen, including those holding executive positions in the party are directly in touch with Digvijaya Singh who is functioning as a parallel power centre of sorts. And finally, if this trend continues, then ticket distribution will follow the same conventional messy route which will hamper identification of good new candidates.
