Nationalist Congress Party in Goa on Friday took strong cognisance of a statement by a Congress leader that the Sharad Pawar-led party was colluding with Bharatiya Janata Party to destabilise the Congress-led government in the state.
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and all Congress members in his cabinet figure in the party's first list of 22 candidates for the March 3 assembly polls, which was announced in Panaji on Saturday. The list contains two new faces, but the party has sprung a surprise by denying a ticket to Victoria Fernandes, the Congress' lone woman legislator. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Subhash Shirodkar said the second and final list of 11 nominees will be announced on Sunday
At least six people were killed and 30 injured in a stampede during a temple festival in North Goa, India. The incident occurred at the Sree Lairai Devi temple in Shirgao village, around 40 km from Panaji, as thousands of devotees thronged the narrow lanes to the temple for the annual festival.
The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday warned its legislators against venting out their anger in public against the party leadership. The GPCC meeting, which was held against the backdrop of a rebellion by five legislators demanding leadership change in the state, was also attended by Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat. Goa Congress leaders who took a dig at rebellious legislators, however, shielded the chief minister and refused to seek an explanation from him.
Naik, 71, is the first senior Congress leader to resign after Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday in his concluding speech that he wants to give the younger generation a chance to come forward and lead the party.
The Goa Congress faced a spate of resignations and confusion prevailed over its alliance with like-minded parties for the upcoming polls in the coastal state as the opposition party was getting ready for a series of meetings by general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday held discussions with office bearers in Goa, during his first ever visit to the state after his party faced humiliating defeat in the assembly elections early this year.
The biggest jolt the Congress came in 2019 when a group of its 10 MLAs, led by then leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar, left the party together and joined the ruling BJP.
The CM's son had rebelled against the Congress, but says will support the party in the coming elections.
In a major organisational revamp, the Congress on Friday appointed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in-charge of Punjab and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain as general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Hit hard by defections in the last five years, the Congress in Goa on Friday made its candidates sign affidavits and take an oath of loyalty to the party in the presence of its senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
In yet another jolt the Congress ahead of the Goa Assembly polls, the party's state working president, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, resigned as member of the legislative assembly on Monday, reducing the party's strength to two in the 40-member House.
The controversial Silly Souls bar and restaurant operates from the same address -- House No. 452, Bouta Vaddo, Assagao -- from which a company controlled by Irani's husband and family, Eightall Food and Beverage, conducts its primary business, Chodankar said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's public rally in Goa on Saturday will be her first ever since her surgery in August, a senior Congress leader said in Panaji on Friday.
Left with just three MLAs, the Congress does not have the required one tenth of the legislative strength in the 40-member House to claim the Cabinet minister-level post.
He said his supporters were apprehensive that joining TMC would invite the "outside party" to Goa which will split votes.
"I am leaving for Delhi on a business trip. It is purely personal," Kamat said before boarding the flight.
On Saturday, Delhi unit of the Congress unanimously adopted a resolution urging Rahul to take over as the president.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had on Tuesday asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers after the party's drubbing in the recently held Assembly polls in these states.
The Congress has accused the two MLAs of hobnobbing with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to bring about a split in the opposition party.
The decision is being seen as a balancing act in the faction-ridden party in the state.
While 'family politics' is one of the major issues in the upcoming Goa legislative assembly polls, a young couple here is perhaps an exception, as both of them are rooting for rival political parties.
The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the Goa assembly speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking the disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has courted controversy after he described the accused in the gang rape as "nave".
Former chief minister of Goa and Congress veteran Luizinho Faleiro, resigned as an MLA and a primary member of the party on Monday claiming the state party unit is run by a 'coterie' of leaders even as he praised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying the country needs a leader like her to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa looks all set to score a hattrick in the coastal state with the support of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, as vote counting trends of the February 14 elections indicated the BJP missing the majority mark by a whisker.
'The greed for power of the BJP and its allies is exposed to the fact that they can't even give charge to a trusted lieutenant in the absence of the CM.'
'There is no hard evidence, but our MLAs have been getting calls from industrialists and mining mafia in the state to quit the Congress and join the BJP.'
Parrikar, who is suffering from pancreatic ailment, presented a revenue surplus state budget sitting on his chair in the state assembly, with a tube inserted through his nose.
In a protests against the decision of Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to invite BJP to form the government despite falling short of the required numbers, the Congress has been demanding they be called to form the government in Goa and Manipur as it had emerged as the largest party in the 2017 assembly election.
He said had the alliance with Goa Forward gone through, the Congress would have got majority in the state and that it was unfair to now make him a "villain".
Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva will be sworn-in as Governor of Goa on Saturday after predecessor B V Wanchoo resigned last week. Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Mohit Shantilal Shah will administer the oath of office to the Governor at Durbar hall of the Raj Bhavan at 6 pm on Saturday, according to a statement issued by the state government.
After the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers.
Patole wrote that he was resigning as the chairman of the Kisan Congress and 'dismissing' the unit.
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
Why weren't the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and Telangana -- all of which have borders with Karnataka -- not invited to Saturday's swearing-in ceremony, asks Shyam G Menon.
Party president Sonia Gandhi nominated Mukut Mithi (Arunachal Pradesh), Peerzada Sayeed (Jammu and Kashmir), Prabha Rau (Maharashtra), B D Kalla (Rajasthan) and Salman Khurshid (Uttar Pradesh).\n\n
Reacting to the statement, the Congress in Goa accused the TMC of entering the poll fray in the state in order to 'divide secular votes and give mileage to the ruling BJP', and also alleged that Kishor's remarks exposed Mamata Banerjee-led party's agenda.
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