4 min readPanajiMay 31, 2026 07:44 PM IST
First published on: May 31, 2026 at 07:44 PM IST
A day after taking charge as Goa Congress president, veteran leader Girish Chodankar acknowledged the rumblings that his appointment had caused, terming it a “natural response”. Chodankar emphasised he would take a “consultative approach” and hinted at an alliance with other Opposition parties for next year’s Assembly elections.
“Whenever someone is removed, some resentment is natural. The decision has been taken by the party leadership. Such decisions are a part of the process in every political party. Some dissent is always there. We have to handle it politically and have a consultative approach and involve everyone. Those who are loyal to the party and have been with the party for long … will not go to the public to damage the party in any way,” Chodankar told The Indian Express.
Chodankar’s appointment on Friday evoked a strong reaction from his predecessor, Amit Patkar, who told the media on Saturday that the party high command did not consult him about a leadership change. Patkar, who had replaced Chodankar as the party’s Goa chief in March 2022 following the Assembly election loss, said he had sought a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over the issue.
Two members of Goa Congress’s social media department have resigned while some grassroots workers have also voiced their discontent with Chodankar’s appointment. Chodankar, however, claimed discussions about a leadership change had been going on for some time.
The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the 2022 Assembly polls, winning 20 of the state’s 40 seats, while the Congress returned with 11. In a setback for the Congress, eight party MLAs defected to the BJP on September 14, 2022, bringing its tally down to three.
In a state where defections often decide electoral outcomes, Chodankar said he remains optimistic about the coming elections, terming the current political situation as “little difficult, but not impossible”.
“The people, by and large, are angry with this BJP government. They want to send them home. As far as the issue of defections is concerned, we have to form the government by hook or crook. There is no other option for us. Fifteen years have passed. We cannot allow Goa to be destroyed like this. So, we will support Goans in bringing a pro-Goa government that listens to the voice of the people,” he said.
Chodankar said his immediate priority was to “reunite all the Congress workers and those who have turned away from the party”. “I have already spoken to them and asked them to return, so that we have a strong team. Secondly, we have to stop what I call ‘jodi number 1’ (Chief Minister) Pramod Sawant, and (Town and Country Planning Minister) Vishwajit Rane, who are out to sell Goa. ‘Brand Goa’ is getting destroyed. Goa is becoming a concrete jungle. In the name of development and rampant land conversions, we cannot allow the state to be destroyed. The BJP government in the last 15 years has destroyed Goa. Unemployment too is a major problem,” he said.
On the need to strengthen the organisational structure of the party, the new Goa Congress president said, “We have already announced mandal committees, which will be another layer of organisation and they will strengthen our booth committees. We will continue to expose the government’s corruption and failures,” he said.
Chodankar, as the AICC in charge of Tamil Nadu, played a crucial role in the party stitching up a post-poll alliance with the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) after the latter emerged as the single-largest party in its debut election.
On the possibility of Opposition parties stitching together an alliance in 2027 elections to defeat the BJP, Chodankar said a broad consensus was now building in the party. “The people of Goa feel that all the (Opposition) parties should be united. I think a consensus is now building in our party also. All the decisions shall be taken in consultation with Delhi. We have to convince the people of Goa to give us an absolute majority,” he said.
