Goa polls: Cong to meet on Sep 26 to decide candidates

Panaji, Sep 24: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) will hold a meeting on September 26 here, wherein the process to shortlist the candidates for upcoming state legislative Assembly elections will begin, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said today.

Besides, the issue of proposal for an alliance with like-minded parties will also be discussed in the meeting. Congress is likely to soon announce the first list of candidates for the polls slated next year.

"The first meeting of GPCC is going to be held on September 26. The consultation is taking place and where there is total unanimity and where there is no other candidate, we shall declare that candidate early," All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijaya Singh told party workers here.

"Wherever there is (are) three-four-five candidates, we should have 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) of the Congress candidates within the party. If there is mahagathbandhan of every aspiring Congress candidate, then where is the dispute? "We have began consultations with the block and district committees and we would like to confine to those candidates proposed by these committees," Singh said.

"There may be differences about the candidates, we will take care of that. We have started the process. Most of the block Congress committees have sent the recommendations and the District Congress committee has to send theirs," the senior leader added.

He said there are diverse views about alliance amongst the senior leaders in Goa. "Some leaders in Goa say that there should be 'gathbandhan' (alliance), some say there should be no gathbandhan, this should stop," Singh said.

"Now we are close to elections, I would appeal the senior leaders not to make such statements. Each of the senior leaders who are here, they are either in coordination committee, executive committee or PCC, please let us discuss. "Don't worry more about what media is printing, worry about the issues.

We should highlight the promises made by (former Goa Chief Minister) Manohar Parrikar and how much of those have been fulfilled," he commented. Parrikar before taking his assignment as the Union Defence Minister was the Chief Minister of the coastal state. Singh said Congress is preparing to contest in all the 40 seats in Goa.

"We are preparing for all the 40 seats and the decision to have some coalition or not will be discussed in the PCC meeting where all the senior leaders will be present," he told workers.

PTI