Goa Congress hit by resignations on day of Priyanka visit

The Goa Congress faced a spate of resignations and confusion prevailed over its alliance with like-minded parties for the upcoming polls in the coastal state as the opposition party was getting ready for a series of meetings by general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday. A group of Congress leaders from the Porvorim assembly constituency tendered their resignations on Friday morning. The group, supported by Independent MLA Rohan Khaunte, claimed the Congress was not serious about contesting the assembly polls likely to be held in early 2022.

“The Congress party does not seem to be interested in contesting the upcoming Goa elections seriously. It is a non-starter due to the attitude of some of its leaders,” Gupesh Naik, a former zilla panchayat member, who led the group from Porvorim, told reporters. In yet another setback for the Congress, its senior leader from South Goa Moreno Rebelo tendered his resignation. The resignation letter by Rebelo claims he was upset after the party announced the “candidature” to sitting MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco from the Curtorim constituency “despite he working against the party”. Rebelo hails from Curtorim. “Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who has never participated in any party activity for the last four-and-a-half years and on the contrary only abused party leaders and yourself, worked against the official candidate of Curtorim in the recently held Zilla Panchayat election, is promoted as working president of the party and is declared as a candidate by senior leaders during a recently held convention,” Rebelo said in the letter addressed to Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar. The spate of resignations came after differences emerged in the Congress over the nature of its understanding with the Goa Forward Party (GFP) for the assembly polls. AICC Goa election in-charge P Chidambaram on Thursday said the GFP had only extended support to the Congress and refused to term it as an alliance at this stage. On the other hand, senior Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao has proposed a meeting between GFP chief Vijai Sardesai and Chodankar on Saturday. Talking to reporters in Panaji, Chidambaram had said, “So far we had one party leader Vijai Sardesai who came to Delhi and said, ‘in order to defeat BJP, my party offers support to the Congress party’. Rahul Gandhi said we accept the support. All other details have to be discussed further.” Within minutes of his statement, Rao had tweeted “”I have invited Sri @VijaiSardesai, President of @Goaforwardparty for a meeting with Sri @girishgoa, President of @INCGoa and others on 11/12/21, 10 am at Congress Election Office, Patto Plaza, Panjim.” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is scheduled to address various events and interact with youngsters and women during her day-long visit to Goa.