GENERATION NEXT…
Name Position
Amit Patkar – GPCC president
Michael Lobo – CLP leader
Sankalp Amonkar – Dy leader, CLP
Carlos Fereira – Chief Whip
Savio D’Silva – DCC President
Viren Shirodkar – DCC President
Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Soon after being appointed as the present of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, Amit Patkar has made his intentions clear of fighting for the rights of the people of Goa and taking the grand old party to new heights in Goa.
Thirty-eight-year-old Amit Patkar was appointed the GPCC President and an MLA from Cuncolim in South Goa Yuri Alemao (37), a commercial pilot by training, and was made the working president of the Goa Congress handing over the baton to the younger generation in the state.
Congress appointed Amit Patkar as GPCC president in a late-night decision, while Calangute MLA was appointed Congress Legislative Party leader.
Sankalp Amonkar was named DY CLP leader. Yuri Alemao was named the Working President of the Congress, and Carlos Ferreira was appointed Chief Whip.
Viren Shirodkar and Savio D’Silva were appointed North and South Goa, respectively.
In another order, AICC president Sonia Gandhi appointed former CM Digambar Kamat as a permanent invitee to Congress Working Committee.
Speaking to the media soon after his appointment
Amit Patkar thanked AICC leaders, including the Gandhis, for giving him such a big responsibility.
“This is a generational change in Congress. All the appointees are young and dynamic and go-getters,” he said.
Patkar, an engineer, had contested the assembly election from the Curchorem seat that was won by the BJP’s Nilesh Cabral, a minister in the Sawant government. Congratulating the new appointees, AICC Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “It’s Generation Next for @INCGoa”.
Patkar said that all 37 candidates for the 2022 assembly elections have worked together, and the coordination was good.
“Eleven of them were elected. Everyone feels that there is a need to take everyone ahead, and wherever we are weak, we need to work hard there and strengthen Congress in Goa,” he said.
He said the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Revolutionary Goans, and Goa Forward have opposed the government.
“Overall, if you see, the Opposition has the support of 67 per cent of the people. I am sure our Opposition leader Michael Lobo and the other MLAs will take up the people-centric issues of these 67 p.c people of Goa in the Assembly,” he said.
He said that as the GPCC president, he will raise his voice against all issues, including inflation and fuel prices.
“We will go to each constituency and understand people’s issues,” he said.
Former Minister and three-time Calangute MLA Michael Lobo thanked the All India Congress Committee for giving him the #opportunity to serve the people of Goa.
“I will be the voice of the party as the Leader of Opposition,” he said.
Former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar had resigned taking responsibility for the Congress’s election defeat.