The Congress high command has chosen to keep incumbent Girish Chodankar as Goa unit leader, ending speculation of a change of guard ahead of the assembly elections. The President of Congress, according to the AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal in a statement to the media, “approved the request for a continuation of Girish Chodankar as the Chairman of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and Digambar Kamat as the head of the Congressional Party.”
Aleixo Sequeira, who has been named the working president, will help Chodankar. Sequeira’s appointment is an effort to appease the party’s old guard, who were dissatisfied with Chodankar’s management style.
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Chodankar had already resigned from the office, first following the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP’s Shripad Naik defeated the party head himself from the North Goa seat, and then in December 2020, the local body elections.
The decision was made after a two-day visit to the state by AICC election observer P Chidambaram, who spoke with state leaders and grassroots activists. The Congress has formed several additional committees, including a two-member election coordination committee led by the former chief minister and PCC chairman Luizinho Faleiro.
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MLA Reginaldo Lourenço will lead the campaign committee. In contrast, former CM and South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha will lead the finance committee, and former Union minister Ramakant Khalap will lead the manifesto committee. The publicity committee will be chaired by Chandra Kant Chodankar and co-chaired by Martha Saldanha.
