Team Herald
PANJIM: The new president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee’s (GPCC) is most likely to be nominated this month. Newly-elected Indian National Congress (INC) president Rahul Gandhi is expected to make the announcement latest by January 20.
The GPCC executive committee, in October last year, had authorised the INC president to nominate the next State chief and All India Congress Committee (AICC) members from Goa.
Sitting president Shantaram Naik was appointed to the post in July 2017 as a temporary arrangement following the resignation of Luizinho Faleiro from the post. Naik is lobbying hard to retain the position as there is strong resentment within party against him continuing as party chief.
Younger Congressmen, AICC secretary Girish Chodankar and GPCC general secretary Adv Yatish Naik, are front-runners for the post, as the High Command is looking for new and young leadership at the State level. “Rahul Gandhi is of the strong view that party needs young leaders to revamp it. The decision is expected to come latest by January 20,” sources said.
Congress Legislative Party (CLP) members are lobbying for Chodankar, who was the party candidate against Manohar Parrikar in the Panjim by-elections.
Former chief minister Ravi Naik, ex-MP Francisco Sardinha and Congress vice president MK Shaikh are the others in the fray for the post.
Along with the President, INC will also officially announce the State executive committee and the district committees, the election for which were held nearly four months ago.
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CLP plans to corner govt during Budget session
Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Tuesday decided to expose the failures of the Manohar Parrikar-led government during the Budget Session of the State Legislative Assembly due in February. It also raised questions on the Chief Minister’s wisdom in writing to the Karnataka BJP on the Mhadei river water issue. CLP met on Tuesday under the leadership of Chandrakant Kavlekar, wherein it resolved to stand firm in its opposition to the coal expansion and national waterways project. Speaking to Herald, Kavlekar said CLP decided to expose the government’s failures as the coalition will be completing one year of its tenure soon. CLP has also worked out floor coordination to corner the government. Floor coordination has been a major weakness for the Congress, as their 16 MLAs have often been having different views.
