NT Reporter
Panaji
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary KC Venugopal on Saturday said the Congress would take “strong corrective measures” to prevent defections in Goa and restore public confidence ahead of the next
Assembly elections.
The Congress has faced two major defections in the state in recent years, with MLAs switching to the BJP in 2019 and 2022. In all, 18 Congress legislators joined the BJP during the
two episodes.
Without elaborating on the proposed measures, Venugopal said the party was mindful of
public sentiment.
“Our party is like our mother. Those who defect from the party are basically cheating their own mother. We are very much aware of the people’s sentiments. Keeping that in mind, we will take very strong corrective measures to build confidence among the people of Goa,”
he said.
Venugopal was addressing the media after holding meetings with Congress leaders and functionaries at a hotel in Dona Paula. Also present were AICC Goa in-charge Manickrao Thakare, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar, AICC co-in-charge Anjali Nimbalkar, Opposition leader Yuri Alemao, GPCC working president MK Shaikh, MLAs Altone D’Costa and Carlos Ferreira, among others.
On a three-day visit to the state, Venugopal arrived on Friday night and has since held a series of meetings with senior leaders, including one-on-one interactions. He also met members of the political affairs committee, GPCC office-bearers, district presidents, heads of departments and block presidents.
Sources said Venugopal later met NSUI leaders and attended a presentation by a private agency on the party’s election strategy at the Congress House in Panaji.
“We had a series of meetings with the leaders and office-bearers of the GPCC. We discussed organisational revamping, booth committee formation and block committee formation. We also discussed the strategy for the next Assembly elections,” Venugopal said.
Claiming that public sentiment was turning against the BJP government, Venugopal alleged that land was being acquired in the name of development.
“There are solid reasons behind it. In the name of development, they are grabbing land, which Goans never expected,” he said, expressing confidence that the BJP would be voted out of power in the next Assembly elections.
He said that if the Congress forms the government, it would restore powers to local bodies.
Referring to law and order, Venugopal claimed that Goa was no longer as safe as it once was. Citing statistics, he alleged that the state had witnessed 127 murders, 383 rapes, 2,113 cases of theft, burglary and robbery, 354 kidnappings and 1,127 assault cases over the past four years.
He also claimed that Goa ranked first in unemployment and accused the BJP of ignoring issues such as joblessness and environmental protection.
Replying to a question on former GPCC president Amit Patkar, Venugopal said discussions had been held with him regarding future responsibilities.
“Amit Patkar is an ex-GPCC president. We had a long discussion today. Whatever responsibility we are going to give our leaders, we will let you know,” he said.
On the formation of the new Goa Congress Party that has applied for registration with the Election Commission of India, Venugopal said anyone was free to form a political party.
“Anybody wants to form a party, let them form. We are not worried about all these things,” he said.
Defending the appointment of Chodankar as the GPCC chief, Venugopal described him as an experienced and dedicated party worker.
“We know his integrity. We know his honesty. He is not a newcomer. For the last 25 to 30 years he has worked in the party at different levels. Anybody can level allegations, but we know he is one of a gem,” he said.
Venugopal added that the party’s election strategy, including possible alliances and mergers, would be discussed internally and announced at an appropriate time.
