Just days after Congress party was routed in the local body polls in Goa, Congress MP Francisco Sardinha said the decisions taken by the inexperienced leadership of the party was the reason for the humiliating loss.
According to the reports, Sardina on Wednesday addressed a press conference after the elections debacle, where he said that the decisions taken by a politically “novice” state leadership had led to the party’s rout in the recently conducted Zilla panchayat (ZP) polls. He also took objection to the party’s young leaders for calling veteran politicians as “grandfathers”.
“Some of them (young leaders) called seniors who have been elected as grandfathers. To run any organisation you need a combination of seniors and juniors. Seniors who have been elected many times and juniors who want to dream. We also want them to dream. We want their dreams to come true,” said Sardinha, a former Chief Minister.
In his press conference, Sardinha held party’s state leadership responsible for making erroneous decisions in run-up to the elections.
“I totally blame the leadership of the party. I also blame people who had taken some of the decisions of the late. They are political novices and they have not taken the seniors of the party into confidence,” he said.
The internal rift between the Congress party comes after the party was routed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently conducted Zilla panchayat polls. Out of the 49 seats which went to poll on Saturday, the Congress managed to win only four seats, while the BJP romped home with 33 seats.
Minority leaders upset over party functions, resigned weeks ago
Not just mainstream leaders of the Congress are quite upset about the party’s leadership and its performance in the elections, even minority leaders in the state are upset and have quit the party recently.
Riyaz Shaikh, Goa Congress State Convenor of Minority Department had resigned in the run-up to the local body polls, tendered his resignation from the post and from primary membership, accusing the Congress party of “not doing enough for minorities”.
In his letter to Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar, Shaikh had stated that he was tendering his resignation from the party as it was using minorities in the party without giving any benefit. Shaikh said that he decided to quit the party after another senior leader Urfan Mulla resigned from the Congress party.
“I have taken this decision since our Congress Minority leader and former Pradesh Congress Minority Chairman Urfan Mulla has stepped down from the Congress party that we minorities were being used without getting any benefits. Without my leader it will not be possible for me to work for the party,” Shaikh said in his resignation letter.
Shaikh’s resignation had come just weeks after Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Minority Wing Chairman Urfan Mulla had also quit the party citing lack of unity among senior party leaders in the state.
