PANAJI: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) executive committee on Tuesday stood firm on contesting the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections on party lines disagreeing with the decision of the Congress Legislature party (CLP) not to contest polls on party symbol.
GPCC president Girish Chodankar had convened the meeting of the executive committee to discuss the recommendations made by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) not to contest ZP polls slated for March 22, on party symbol.
The meeting discussed the issue threadbare and most of the members is learnt to have demanded to the party should not change its decision now even as the CLP had recommended otherwise. The GPCC executive committee had earlier resolved to contest the ZP elections on party symbol and had also started the exercise of shortlisting and finalising about 42 candidates.
It is learnt that bowing to the wishes of the party members, Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat, who was also present for the meeting supported the decision of the executive committee and assured them that he will actively campaign for the victory of Congress candidates in the fray.
However, GPCC president Girish Chodankar declined to divulge the details of the executive committee meeting and stated that he will disclose the party's decision on Wednesday.
The GPCC is the highest decision making body in the party organisation. Though all elected party MLAs are ex-officio members of the GPCC, only Kamat attended the meeting while, four others abstained.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on February 20, decided not to contest the ZP elections on party lines accusing the State government for deliberately delaying the reservation of ZP constituencies to different categories and that there was no level playing field in the elections.
The CLP had also recommended that both, the CLP and the party should support its members and supporters contesting ZP elections as independent candidates.