Organisational rejig in Cong’s Goa unit signal generational shift: Chidambaram

Aday after the Congress revamped its Goa unit, senior party leader P Chidambaram on Friday said the organisational changes signal a generational shift and expressed confidence that the ”young team” will win the people’s support.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday appointed young leader Amit Patkar as the president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee. He will be assisted by Yuri Alemao as the working president.

Further, Gandhi appointed Michael Lobo as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Goa Assembly, while Sankalp Amonkar was made the deputy CLP leader and Carlos Ferreira its chief whip.

In a tweet, Chidambaram said, ”My warm congratulations to the new President and Office-bearers of Goa PCC. My warm congratulations to the new CLP leader of Goa and the new team.” ”I warmly welcome Shri Digambar Kamat to the CWC. He deserves the honour due to his dedicated service and rich experience,” the former union minister said.

The organisational changes in Goa signal a generational change and a huge responsibility has been cast on the ”young team”, Chidambaram said.

”I am certain they will rise to the occasion and win the support of the people of Goa,” he added.

Chidambaram, who was the Congress’ senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, and Dinesh Gundu Rao, the All India Congress Committee in-charge for the state, had met former party chief Rahul Gandhi at his residence on Wednesday and discussed the restructuring of the organisation, sources said.

The Congress failed to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently-held Assembly polls in the coastal state. After the poll debacle in all the five states that went to polls — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa — Sonia Gandhi had asked the party’s chiefs in these states to tender their resignations.