Summary:
PANAJI: After a long delay, Congress on Monday picked president of the state unit Girish Chodankar and former chief minister Francisco Sardinha for the North Goa and South Goa Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. The names were cleared by the Congress central election committee headed by Congress national president Rahul Gandhi on Monday evening.While Chodankar’s name was confirmed earlier, the party struggled with the decision for South Goa till Monday. Sources said Congress women’s wing president Pratima Coutinho was a strong contender for the ticket and senior party functionaries had a hard time selecting the candidate. The former state Youth Congress president and former AICC national in-charge of NSUI had contested, although unsuccessfully, against former chief minister Manohar Parrikar in the 2017 bypoll for the Panaji assembly seat.According to Congress insiders, Chodankar would have preferred to contest the Lok Sabha election from South Goa, a constituency which has predominantly been with Congress. The party also appeared to be in two minds about the candidates for South Goa with Youth Congress workers supporting Coutinho, while senior party men vouched for Sardinha’s ability to connect with members from all communities in rural parts of Goa.Lawyer Cleofato Coutinho who had the backing of former chief minister Digambar Kamat, was also a strong contender for the South Goa ticket..