Tamasha of party elections belics hope for party’s revival

Senior Congress leaders from Goa who are opposed to the leadership of Faleiro have already complained against him to the party high command. Faleiro has been accused of not publishing membership rolls as required by the party constitution. He has also been accused of scrutinising the list of candidates in secret. Some leaders have also alleged that the party president had indulged in illegal and arbitrary appointments of block returning officers.

However, when the polls actually began, according to these leaders, Faleiro, again made the party’s election authorities take orders from him and arbitrarily changed BROs, changed polling booths and made arrangements to cancel polls in those blocks were situation was found unfavourable to him.

Former GPCC president Shantaram Naik said that this was nothing but privatisation of the centuries-old party into a private limited company whose propritership in Goa is known to all.

Several leaders have boycotted the polls, so much so that senior leaders like ex-PCC president Sulochana Katkar, ex-PCC president and ex-M.P. Shantaram Naik, ex-general secretary Keshav Prabhu, may not find any place in the organisational set up unless AICC intervenes to find a compromise formula and do not leave the matter entirely at the hands of Faleiro. Vincent Rodrigues, general secretary of the party even commented: I was forced not to participate in this mockery which was not an election but only a selection of psychopants.

When asked about the poll prospects of Sonia Gandhi, in the event of there being a contest between Gandhi and Jitendra Prasada, Shantaram Naik said that her victory is a forgone conclusion and, all the delegates, without any exception, he felt, would vote for Mrs. Gandhi. "Although there are grave irregularities in Goa committed at the instance of Faleiro, we will tackle him separately, and this tussle will in no way affect Mrs. Gandhi’s votes in Goa," Naik said.

Naik is among the few Congressmen who have refused to defect from the Congress. He is, however, an outspoken critic of the Faleiro. The entire process of organisational elections of the party finally puts out a lasting question whether this exercise will eventually strengthen or weaken the Congress party. From indications available it is obvious that situtation in Goa where the party’s legislative wing has already broken four times, this exercise of elections will undoubtedly further alienate various sections of the party.

Observers in Goa after having viewed the photographs of Jeetendra Prasad being hecked by Sonia Gandhi supporters at the Congress headquarters in Delhi have cynically started believing that the one sided "tamasha" of Congress organisational elections as seen in Goa also reflects on its national face in Delhi.