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 andwe 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.
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"It will be discussed in Central Election Committee of Congress party too. We have to strategise. Do we want to form the government or don't want to form the government? Politics is a game of numbers. But at the same time, there has to be consensus amongst the Congress workers who will stand by the party," Singh, who is party's in-charge for Goa, said.
"Therefore, we have to look at the sentiments of the Congress people. We are preparing for all the 40 seats, whether to have alliance or not is the decision that Congress party has to take and the PCC will deliberate on this. Therefore leave that decision to us," the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said.
Singh said that while deciding candidates, the local leadership would be given more authority.
"I would be the last person to enforce any decision on the Congress party leadership of Goa. I am here to facilitate. We (AICC) don't have likes or dislikes, we don't have any candidates. We (AICC) don't have any favourites or least-liked," he claimed.
"We (AICC) are here to facilitate the Congress functioning in Goa. We are here to sort of bring you to together so that the Congress brings an united face of the party," he added.
Singh further said there is unanimity over the fact that the party wants to fight BJP and AAP and form the government in Goa.
"People say Congress is divided and they have different views. But where are the different views? We all want to fight BJP, we all want to fight AAP, we all want to bring Congress party back," he added.
Asking the local organisation to change the campaign strategy, Singh said, "in our public meeting only our Congress workers come, common man is not coming. We have to approach the common man. That is why we have decided frontal organisation and block committee will visit every house. We will give you charge-sheet against BJP".
Taking a dig at AAP, the Congress leader said, "Similarly, there are several accusations against AAP in Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal had said that new experiment of AAP is taking place but it has resulted in 19 MLAs behind the bars on various cases."
AAP is here to eat into Congress votes and not to win. We will also issue charge-sheet against AAP," he claimed.
