Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji

Panaji, Jul 8: The Goa Congress is grappling with internal dissent following a recent leadership reshuffle, with resignations and the emergence of a new outfit adding to the party's challenges ahead of the Assembly elections due early next year.

The party replaced Amit Patkar with Girish Chodankar as the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president in late May, a move aimed at revitalising the organisation before the polls.

However, the leadership change has triggered discontent within the party, with Congress General Secretary Manisha Usgaonkar, social media wing head Divyakumar, state social media coordinator Shamila Siddiqui, and several block-level office-bearers resigning in solidarity with Patkar.

The developments have also coincided with the formation of a new outfit named the Goa Congress Party, prompting the Congress leadership to warn of disciplinary action against dissenting members.

The Congress leadership is banking on Chodankar, who belongs to the influential Bhandari community, to strengthen the party's outreach among Other Backward Classes (OBCs), while its lone Lok Sabha MP Viriato Fernandes and Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao represent the Catholic community.

With Assembly elections expected by February 2027, the party believes Chodankar's organisational experience and social outreach will help revive its electoral prospects after suffering repeated setbacks and defections in recent years.

However, critics within the party have questioned the leadership change, pointing to the Congress' poor performance during Chodankar's previous tenure as Goa Congress chief between 2018 and 2022, which included disappointing results in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the 2020 local body polls and the 2022 Assembly elections.

Some leaders have also alleged that the reshuffle was carried out without adequate consultation. MP Viriato Fernandes has publicly stated that he was not consulted before the organisational changes were announced.

Defending Chodankar's appointment, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal recently described him as "one of the gems" of the party, highlighting his decades-long association with the Congress.

Chodankar has dismissed speculation of a split, alleging that the newly formed Goa Congress Party was part of the BJP's strategy to divide Opposition votes.

"There is no split. The Congress is united, stronger than ever, and steadily expanding its support across Goa," he said.

The Congress has struggled to retain its legislators in Goa over the past two Assembly terms. After emerging as the single-largest party in the 2017 elections, several MLAs defected to the BJP. A similar exodus occurred after the 2022 Assembly polls, when eight of the party's 11 MLAs switched allegiance to the ruling party.

Despite the current turmoil, Congress leaders remain hopeful that the declining electoral influence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Trinamool Congress, both of which split Opposition votes in 2022, could improve the party's prospects in the upcoming Assembly elections.