The Congress high command is expected to announce the name of the new president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee later this week. Unlike in the past when the state unit used to pass a one line resolution requesting the party high command to decide on the name of the president of the GPCC, this time around the AICC desk in-charge of Goa, Chellakumar, was sent to discuss the names of the probable candidates and evolve consensus on one of the aspirants. Given the division in the ranks of the Congress party, the AICC emissary could not build consensus in favour of any of the probable candidates. The All India Congress Committee president, Rahul Gandhi, is in favour of younger leadership taking over the mantle of the party. But the state Congress leaders appear to think otherwise as the number of seniors in the race to the new state Congress chief is bigger than the young leaders to succeed the outgoing president, Shantaram Naik. There are atleast seven known aspirants for the top Congress post. Chellakumar is now expected to submit his report to the party top leadership, who will then decide on the new chief of the Congress party in Goa.
Whoever may be the new GPCC president, he or she would have to work hard to not only build the party but also bring unity among the rival factions within the party. The party is currently in the state of hibernation. It has been more than six months that the Congress party has held meetings of the blocks, the office bearers or executive committees. The task for the new Congress chief in Goa has been cut out. The new GPCC president would have to activate the party cadres and also ensure that they work like well-oiled machinery to win over voters for the success of the party, particularly in view of the fact that parliamentary elections are just a year away. Discipline and unity are something that the Congress party has been missing for a long time now and it remains to be seen whether the new president could bring a semblance of both ahead of the parliamentary elections due in about a year from now, unless held ahead of the schedule. It should be priority of the new state party president to set the Congress house in order in the shortest possible time and make the party battle ready.
For long the Congress party in the state has been considered as party of “Aaya Rams and Gaya Rams”, wherein people have walked into it to serve own interests and left it at their own sweet will much to the chagrin of the dedicated party cadres. As a result of these frequent entries and exits, the party has not been able to build its cadres in quite a few constituencies despite having been in power for more than a decade and half. Besides, most of the party workers owe allegiance to the local leaders and a void becomes visible when these leaders abandon the party for greener pastures elsewhere. It is also a well-known fact that the Congress leaders’ popularity is limited to their constituencies and the party has not produced any leader of stature who can find acceptability beyond his or her constituency. Many of the Congress leaders also admit to existence of crab mentality among them but have failed to discard it. They use every available opportunity to run down their colleagues to promote their own goals. It is widely believed that the crab mentality culture has flourished in the party because of absence of a strong leader and failure of the party leadership to enforce discipline.
Given the fact that AICC president has declared inclination towards passing over the leadership baton to younger generation in an attempt to change the wheels of fortune of the grand old party, there is every possibility of youth leaders being preferred over the seniors. The appointment of a young person may not be difficult for the Congress party high command but it has to ensure that the transition is smooth especially as there is a strong presence of senior leaders in Goa. It is time that senior leaders take on the responsibility to serve as mentors and guide young Congress leaders in building the party. It is for the party high command to ensure that the new president is acceptable to majority of the Congressmen. The role of the new president would be crucial in rebuilding the party as also winning over the allies or bringing back the Congressmen who deserted it into the party fold to strengthen it. The Congress high command has to choose a dynamic person who should serve as a glue to bind the rival factions together and serve as honey to attract allies.