By Marcellus D’Souza

Panaji, Apr 22: Congress MLAs from Cuncolim and Quepem, Yuri Alemao and Alton D’Costa respectively, gave a call to the party workers to work together as one unit to send the divisive party home.

Newly-appointed Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar categorically reassured party workers that the objective behind the Chetna Yatra is not to open the doors for the defectors and those who worked against the party in the recently-held Assembly polls.

Congress party’s Chetna Yatra got underway from Cuncolim with senior party leader M K Sheikh calling for a “Chintan baitak” to take stock of the party’s electoral debacle and prepare a road map for the future.

M K Sheikh suggested a two-day State-level 'Chintan Baithak' to hear the views of the party rank and file, and to come out with a strategy and prepare a road map to revive the party.

“Let there be a debate. The elections are over, the results are out and the party have won 11 seats. People say the presence of Revolutionary Goans, the Aam Aadmi Party and the TMC have contributed to the defeat of the Congress. Such talks do no good, but will only harm the party. We will not be able to win back the confidence of the people if we continue to complain about these factors. Instead, let us meet and find out the reasons and work out the way ahead,” Sheikh said.

The suggestion was accepted by GPCC chief Amit Patkar, who said the party leadership will take a call on how to go about the proposal.

Patkar asserted that the Chetna Yatra is not a move to take back into the party the defectors or those who had worked against the candidates, blaming a section of the media and the ruling party for spreading rumours on the purpose behind the yatra.

“If we remain connected with the people, our tally of seats will double in 2027. This yatra is not to welcome the defectors into the party,” he said.
Patkar accepted the suggestion of Cuncolim block Congress president Assis Norohna that the party should not promote many candidates for a seat, saying it would only end up dividing the workers.

In his address, Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao expressed happiness that the Congress is launching the Chetna Yatra from the historic village of Cuncolim, from where freedom fighter Shabu Desai had taken out a Jyot during the Opinion Poll to maintain Goa’s separate identity.

Yuri expressed confidence that Congress will retain South Goa in 2024 while stressing the need to work as one party.

South Goa district Congress chief Savio D’Silva said the party would retain the South Goa seat if the party goes about systematically in the election by organizing the party at the booth level.

Capt. Viriato Fernandes charged the BJP for dividing the people into lines of caste, creed and religion: “What is happening in the country is all planned and orchestrated. The country’s Home Minister is not controlling the violence. Our Chief Minister is making the statements to please his bosses to divide the people. I come from a military background and since they have failed, they look for alternatives to vide the people. But, we have to remain together as Hindus, Muslims and Christians. We will not fall prey to their machinations”, he added.

The Congress won 10 seats on its own in the recently held Assembly polls. Many seats were lost by a wafer thin margin.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had said, “The cadres had put up a splendid performance. We are disappointed that they lost. But this is their chance to be firmly with the party, build the party and begin the fight for the next elections from tomorrow.”

Accepting the verdict against the Congress P Chidambaram had said that while the people of Goa wanted change, their votes were split amongst the opposition parties.
"We accept the verdict of the people of Goa. Our candidates fought a good election, fought bravely, fought against several obstacles and 11 of our candidates and one of our ally Goa Forward party won. People have voted the BJP to power and we accept that and we wish the people of Goa very well," Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram went on to give a detailed explanation to underline the importance of split in the opposition votes in the victory of the BJP, which has won 20 seats in the 40 member state assembly, where 21 is the magic figure. The BJP is already in talks with winning independent candidates as well as the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to make up for the minor shortfall in the required numbers.

"The first thing that is very clear is the people of Goa wanted a change but in their voting behaviour they could not bring about a change. I say this because the winning party, the BJP got only a little over 33 per cent of votes. The overwhelming majority voted against the BJP but those votes were split across many parties which gave the BJP the opportunity to win 20 seats," Chidambaram said.