Margao: A new political outfit calling itself the “Goa Congress Party” has applied to the Election Commission for registration under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The development comes barely two days after state Congress president Girish Chodankar alleged that BJP had earmarked Rs 100 crore to float and back a new “secular” party to split Congress vote in Salcete.According to a public notice issued by the party, the outfit will be headed by Francisco Gouveia as president, with its office registered at Velsao. The Election Commission has invited objections, if any, to the party’s registration, within 30 days of the notice’s publication.Chodankar had claimed BJP was engineering a “secular” alternative in the region specifically to fracture Congress’s traditional vote bank ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.Political observers, however, said that the outfit may not be a BJP proxy at all, but the handiwork of disgruntled Congress functionaries unhappy with the state unit’s functioning ahead of 2027.The timing has given significance with AICC organisation general secretary K C Venugopal scheduled to arrive in Goa for a two-day visit, during which he is expected to chair political affairs committee meetings where the party’s election roadmap, campaign strategy and outreach plans for 2027 will be discussed, according to AICC Goa in-charge Manickrao Thakre.Congress insiders say the emergence of the similarly-named outfit is almost certain to come up during Venugopal’s deliberations with the state leadership.
