Cong will talk to Parsekar once again: Chodankar

NT NETWORK

PANAJI

A day after former chief minister and senior BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar said that he intends to contest the Mandrem bypoll independently, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar on Saturday said that the Congress party would once again reach out to Parsekar.

“We have held discussions in the recent past with Parsekar and now we will make one more attempt to contact him and decide how to go about it,” said Chodankar when asked whether Congress would extend support to Parsekar, if he contests as an Independent candidate.

Speaking to this daily, Chodankar said that the Congress party will also reach out to every aspirant, who has expressed to contest the Mandrem bypoll, urging them to come on a common platform. “We will knock the doors of everyone who matters including Jeet Arolkar, who also intends to contest independently,” he said.

When questioned whether the Congress party is considering giving the ticket to a non-Congressman for the Mandrem bypoll and whether it could be Parsekar, Chodankar said that ultimately the Mandrem block of the Congress will have to take a call on the candidate.

“The block committees along with senior leaders of the party are making an assessment. The names recommended by them will be reviewed and discussed by the party and then considered irrespective of whether the individual is Congressman or non-Congressman,” he said adding that the Congress’ candidate would be the people’s candidate.

Chodankar said that the party’s target is to defeat both the ‘traitors,’ Dayanand Sopte and Subhash Shirodkar, who resigned as Congress MLAs to join the BJP. He said that the Congress party will soon complete the process of finalising the candidates for the bypolls to Mandrem and Shiroda constituencies. He, however, said that no significant progress has been made as far as preparing the list of candidates for the two seats is concerned.

Chodankar said that for the Mapusa seat that has fallen vacant following the demise of former deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza, the party has just begun discussions and will soon begin the process of shortlisting the probable candidates.