Ahead of polls, Congress retains Girish Chodankar as Goa unit chief

In a statement to the media, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said the Congress president “has approved a the proposal for the continuance of Girish Chodankar as the president of GPCC and Digambar Kamat as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.

The Congress high command has decided to continue with incumbent Girish Chodankar as Goa unit chief, thus putting to rest speculations over a change of guard ahead of the assembly elections.

Girish Chodankar. (Photo: Twitter)

In a statement to the media, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal said the Congress president “has approved a the proposal for the continuance of Girish Chodankar as the president of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and Digambar Kamat as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.”

Chodankar will be assisted by Aleixo Sequeira, who has been appointed the working president. Sequeira’s appointment is being seen as a move to mollify the party’s old guard who were upset with Chodankar’s style of functioning.

The decision to continue with Chodankar is along expected lines, though he has earlier resigned twice from the position-- after the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections in which the party chief himself lost to the BJP’s Shripad Naik from North Goa seat, and then in December 2020 after the local body polls.

The decision comes after AICC election observer P Chidambaram spent two days in the state, meeting state leaders and grassroot workers.

However, Chodankar’s tenure was marked with divisions within the party and poor performance in both local bodies as well as legislative assembly elections. His tenure also saw the party steadily lose MLAs to the BJP, with just five MLAs left in its fold.

Several party leaders, including MP Francisco Sardinha and Reginaldo Lourenço, had publicly called for his ouster “in the interest of the party”.

Speaking to HT on the development, Sardinha said, “I said openly whatever I needed to. I respect the decision of the high command because it is they who take the decisions. If I were to take the decisions perhaps I would have decided differently. I am a loyal soldier of the party and will continue to work for the party.”

Sequeira thanked the Congress leadership for assigning him an additional responsibility and said he was glad that the issue of leadership is finally laid to rest. “I had said that the issue should be sorted at the earliest. The onus is now on us to work together and ensure the victory of the Congress in 2022,” he said.

In a statement, the party welcomed the appointments. “We sincerely feel that this will create a right balance between the youth and experience and Girish will have the experience to work alongside a seasoned campaigner like Sequeira. The latest appointments is another step in living up to our promise to the people that we are creating more space and opportunities and the new and the younger generation and the contestants on the Congress platform as desired by the Goan electorate,” party spokesperson Tulio de Sousa said.

The Congress has also reconstituted several other committees, including a two-member election coordination committee consisting of headed by former chief minister and former PCC chief Luizinho Faleiro. The campaign committee will be headed by MLA Reginaldo Lourenço, finance committee by former CM and South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, and manifesto committee by former Union minister Ramakant Khalap. The publicity committee will have Chandra Kant Chodankar as the chairperson and Martha Saldanha as co-chairperson.

(With inputs from Umar Sofi)