Team Herald
MARGAO: South Goa Member of Parliament Francisco Sardinha and former All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro have been summoned to New Delhi by the Congress high command for discussions before a final decision is taken with regard to change in leadership in Goa, party sources told Herald.
Sources said that Sardinha has already landed in delhi, while Faleiro, when contacted, said he has already submitted his views to the high command.
Faleiro, Sardinha and former minister Aleixo Sequeira are the three Congressmen in the race for the State party president’s post. The first two have held the post in the past, while Sequeira was also the former Youth Congress president.
It is to finalise the name of the new Congress president in Goa, that the high command has now summoned Sardinha and Faleiro to Delhi for final consultations before any change of guard.
When contacted, Faleiro said he has already informed the high command about the change in leadership issue. “Four months back I was called by the high command. At the moment I have not received any intimation from the high command,” he said.
However, all five Congress MLAs have conveyed their views to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao that change in leadership in Goa is an urgent need in order to regain power, sources said.
There has been speculation over the possibility of Faleiro replacing the incumbent president Girish Chodankar, who has twice sent in his resignation, the last time being in December last year owing moral responsibility for the party’s dismal performance in the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections.
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearer Joseph Vaz said in order to regain power in Goa, there is an urgent need for a new competent leader to head the organisation.
“People of Goa are fed up with the administration of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government which has failed on all fronts. Goans are now looking for the Congress to come back to power,” he stated.
Meanwhile, South Goa District Congress Committee general secretary Usman Khan is likely to be expelled from the party for his misbehaviour with the party leaders when the party Goa desk in-charge Rao was meeting leaders in Margao last week.
Congress workers have filed a complaint against Khan before the South Goa District Congress Committee demanding action against him for entering into heated arguments with the district president Joseph (Joe) Dias.