“There is, however, a larger opportunity before the party. The BJP government has given the opposition several issues to campaign on, ranging from land and environmental concerns to infrastructure, unemployment and governance. Congress also has an organisational advantage that smaller opposition parties do not possess. If properly mobilised, its booth network and traditional voter base can make it the principal challenger to the BJP.
But that requires discipline.
The recent resignation of around 100 booth-level agents ahead of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s Goa visit should be treated as another warning sign. At a time when Congress should be expanding its grassroots machinery, reports of workers walking away send precisely the opposite message.”
Congress enters the run-up to the 2027 Goa Assembly elections with a familiar problem: it is trying to build an opposition front while simultaneously fighting battles within its own house.
The latest reported friction between former GPCC president Amit Patkar and incumbent state president Girish Chodankar over the Public Accounts Committee meeting is therefore more than an internal disagreement. It risks reinforcing a perception that Congress has not yet resolved its leadership transition and remains divided over who controls the political narrative.
That perception could prove costly in 2027.
Congress cannot afford to underestimate the importance of unity at a time when the BJP remains electorally formidable, and the opposition vote is already fragmented among Congress, Goa Forward Party, AAP and Revolutionary Goans Party. The party has been talking about a broader opposition unity and had opened alliance discussions with GFP. Those talks, however, were later suspended by GFP amid growing frustration over seat sharing and trust.
In such an environment, every public quarrel inside Congress becomes politically significant.
The Patkar-Chodankar relationship has been under scrutiny since the leadership change. Chodankar replaced Patkar as GPCC president earlier this year, a decision that reportedly created resentment within sections of the party. Patkar was notably absent when Chodankar formally took charge, while questions were also raised within the party over the manner in which the change was handled.
Congress has repeatedly insisted that the party is united. Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao has said that the leadership change had the support of senior leaders and that the party was firmly behind Chodankar.
But political unity cannot be established through statements alone.
It has to be visible on the ground.
The danger for Congress is that voters may begin seeing its leaders as more interested in internal positioning than in presenting a credible alternative to the BJP. Goa voters have repeatedly demonstrated that they are willing to punish political parties that appear divided or unreliable. The mass defection of eight Congress MLAs to the BJP after the 2022 election remains one of the biggest wounds in the party’s history in Goa. The Supreme Court is now set to examine Congress’s challenge to the Speaker’s decision concerning those defections.
Congress cannot enter another election carrying the baggage of internal distrust.
There is, however, a larger opportunity before the party. The BJP government has given the opposition several issues to campaign on, ranging from land and environmental concerns to infrastructure, unemployment and governance. Congress also has an organisational advantage that smaller opposition parties do not possess. If properly mobilised, its booth network and traditional voter base can make it the principal challenger to the BJP.
But that requires discipline.
The recent resignation of around 100 booth-level agents ahead of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s Goa visit should be treated as another warning sign. At a time when Congress should be expanding its grassroots machinery, reports of workers walking away send precisely the opposite message.
The party therefore needs to settle its internal differences quickly and privately.
Patkar has every right to question decisions, and Chodankar has every right to lead the organisation. But neither can afford to allow personal or factional differences to become the public face of Goa Congress. The leadership must create space for former office bearers, sitting legislators, grassroots workers and potential allies without allowing competing power centres to emerge.
The biggest mistake Congress can make is believing that anti-BJP sentiment automatically translates into votes for Congress.
It does not.
Voters need to believe that Congress is capable of governing, maintaining discipline and keeping its elected representatives together. They also need confidence that an opposition alliance will survive beyond the election.
The BJP will naturally exploit every sign of Congress disunity. It does not need to defeat Congress on every issue if Congress continues weakening itself.
The 2027 election is still months away. Congress has time to repair the damage. But time should not be mistaken for an unlimited opportunity.
If Patkar and Chodankar allow their differences to deepen, the problem will no longer be about a PAC meeting. It will become a question of whether Congress has learnt anything from its past.
For a party hoping to return to power, that would be a dangerous question to face at the ballot box.
