Team Herald
MARGAO: Revealing his plans for the party in the State, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar on Saturday said he will work as a missionary to ensure that Congress comes back to power with absolute majority.
When asked as to what message he thinks the party high command was sending to Congressmen with his appointment as GPCC President, Girish said, “It would not be correct for me to comment. However, as you insist, I think the message was very clear – we have to work for the party organisation and strengthen it first before even considering government formation.”
On Congress failing to form government despite being the single largest party in Goa after the assembly elections and whether it because of too many aspirants for the CM’s post; he said no, that was not the reason, as the CLP would have elected the CM. What happened that day was pure chicanery. I
t is indeed unfortunate that the Congress was kept away by the BJP using its Central clout and other means. However, subsequent developments such as in Karnataka show that public will cannot be suppressed for too long.
Disclosing his plans to strengthen the party organisation, Girish said, “In the first place I am known to be an organizational man and have worked for the party for so many years at the national level. So I will use all my expertise and experience to improve the party in Goa. In the first place, we have to connect with the people and listen to their grievances and that is the reason we have launched the “Jana Gana Mana” programme where party leaders will meet common man and know their problems. We have to become the voice of the people and that is what we will do.”
On the Youth Congress at present is in doldrums at present, he said, “I agree to some extent. However, many are not aware of the membership drive of Youth Congress, which is underway and within a month, the new committees will be formed and then you will see the change.”
On contesting the next assembly elections, he said, “I have decided to work as a missionary for the party with no personal agenda of mine. I had asked for the Congress ticket at Fatorda only once in 2007 and was denied. Since then I have contested only because the party has asked me to do so to keep the party flag flying. At the next elections I would prefer to lead the Congress to victory and getting an absolute majority on its own will be my happiness.”
When asked about his personal plan for the organization and how will GPCC function under him, he said, “I personally think we should now function as a real Opposition and expose all the wrong doings of the government and be the real voice of the people. At the same time, we have to strengthen the party organization and to do this we have decided to hold programmes at block level instead of having them in Panjim and Margao.”
