The curious case of Goa Congress Party: A ‘namesake’ Congress did not see coming

In the Monty Python classic Life of Brian, hilarity ensues when the eponymous Brian joins the People’s Front of Judea and is left puzzled when he finds out that they are resisting both the Romans and the Judean People’s Front. The people of Goa may now somewhat identify with Brian’s predicament.

Last week, a public notice appeared in a local newspaper announcing that a new outfit called the Goa Congress Party (GCP) had submitted an application to the Election Commission (EC) for registration as a political party. Months before the Assembly polls in Goa, the Congress has labelled it an attempt to set up a dummy party to split its votes, an allegation that members of the new outfit deny.

The Congress’s suspicion was also linked to the fact that the announcement came in the wake of internal dissent and resentment following veteran leader Girish Chodankar’s recent appointment as its state president. On May 29, Chodankar replaced Amit Patkar, who said earlier that he was removed from the party chief’s post by the high command without any discussion.

Two members of the party’s social media department subsequently resigned from their posts, while some grassroots workers voiced their discontent, claiming the decision to bring Chodankar back “after defections under his tenure and after the debacle in the 2022 Assembly elections” was “surprising”. Back then, the BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the polls, winning 20 of the state’s 40 seats while the Congress returned with 11. In a setback for the Congress, eight MLAs defected to the BJP on September 14, 2022, bringing its tally down to three.

Since the emergence of its apparent doppelganger, the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has been quick to dismiss any speculation of a “split” in the Congress and has accused the BJP of “sponsoring another political outfit to split the secular vote”.

GPCC president Chodankar alleged the BJP had floated a “Rs 100-crore party”, labelling it the ruling party’s “divide-and-rule strategy” to split votes. “Whenever the BJP senses public anger and anti-incumbency, it falls back on the same formula: float or support new parties to divide votes instead of answering for its failures. After years of rising prices, unemployment, law and order concerns, corruption allegations, land controversies and broken promises, the BJP knows it cannot seek votes on governance alone,” he said.

“Goans are politically aware and will not fall for another engineered experiment designed to benefit the BJP. Every vote diverted through such tactics only helps the ruling party escape accountability,” Chodankar said.

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BJP Goa dismissed the allegations, with party spokesperson Siddhesh Naik hitting back at Chodankar, saying that during his last tenure as the state Congress president, the party weakened and faced defections.

At a press conference on July 4, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal — who was on a visit to Goa for “organisational purposes” and held meetings with party leaders — denied that the GPC would have any effect. “Everybody has the right to form a party. If 50-100 people are thinking that they have to form a new party, everyone has the right. Today, I am told that somebody is going to start a new party named ‘Goa BJP Party’. Someone told me today. You will see it in the future. Anyone who wants to form a party, let them go ahead. We are not worried about all these things,” he said.

What is the Goa Congress Party?

The public notice of the Goa Congress Party lists one Francisco Antonio Jacinto Gouveia as its President. Sources said Francisco works as a master mariner in the merchant navy and has not been formally affiliated with any political party in the past. His house in South Goa’s Velsao is listed as the party’s office.

A senior leader associated with the nascent outfit, who requested anonymity, said the idea of a new political party took shape last month after Chodankar’s “abrupt” appointment. The leader, who has since resigned from the Congress after being with the party for over two decades, bemoaned a “lack of direction” in the party.

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“We have devoted our lives to the party and worked tirelessly; even when the party faced two successive defections, we took it as a challenge. But today, the party is in tatters,” he said. “People who have selflessly worked to build the party cadre have been systemically sidelined, while those with dubious backgrounds are gaining a foothold. Winnability, not party ideology, seems to be the current trend. We will strive our best not to give Goa on a platter to the current dispensation. The Congress has not been in power for the past 15 years and the masses see no hope. People of Goa are demanding an alternative. This is a regional force, which will not be controlled by a high command in Delhi. It should have a ‘people’s command’ right here in Goa. Former members from the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), the TMC (Trinamool Congress), the RGP (Revolutionary Goans Party), and many from the Congress — all professionals — have come together to form this outfit.”

On naming the outfit the Goa Congress Party, he said, “Most promoters of this party have always been Congressmen. But we feel we have been betrayed. What is the meaning of the Congress? It means the banding together of like-minded people who will take up issues concerning Goa, whether it is rampant land conversions, corruption, the double-tracking railway project, ecological destruction, or the Mhadei issue. Hence, the Goa Congress Party.”

He dismissed Chodankar’s allegation of a BJP hand behind the party, saying, “The promoters of the Goa Congress Party are not linked in any manner to the BJP and they are certainly not aware of which entity he is talking about. Maybe there could be others that could prop up.”

He did not reveal the outfit’s current strength, claiming the fledgling group had sufficient numbers “and we are compliant with the requirements of EC”.

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GCP’s treasurer Bruno Pereira, who has had a career working on oil fields, said he supported the Congress in the past but had become disillusioned. “The current parties and politicians are not taking up the issues that are important for Goa. We are fighting to save Goa. Goa Congress Party is a forum to do that,” he said.