Will quit Congress if same senior leaders get tickets: Madkaikar

PANAJI: Breaking his silence, Congress MLA from Cumbharjua, Pandurang Madkaikar, said on Sunday that he will not continue with the party if it again gives tickets to senior leaders, like Pratapsingh Rane and others.
Madkaikar also named Ravi Naik, Luizinho Faleiro, Francisco Sardinha, Digambar Kamat, Subhash Shirodkar, stating that the electorate wants new faces.
“Goans want new faces to be fielded by the Congress for 2017 polls and I will not be with the party if it continues to nominate old faces,” Madkaikar told TOI.
He said that the Congress doesn’t seem to have learnt any lessons from the 2012 assembly poll debacle. Asserting that the party needs to infuse new blood, Madkaikar said that the electorate will not forgive Congress if the same leaders are given tickets.
“Are there no new faces in the party? There are, but the same old leaders want to continue their hegemony and are supported by some central leaders,” the Cumbharjua MLA said.
Asked about his plans on leaving the Congress, Madkaikar said, “If I want to leave, I can do it when I want and go whichever way I want to go and the Congress cannot stop me in doing that as it has done a lot of injustice to me in the last 12 years.”
He also said, “I am just waiting to see who is given party tickets.”
Recently, the MGP offered a ticket to Madkaikar for the 2017 polls, but sources say that the BJP is also wooing him.
Madkaikar, who was first elected on MGP ticket in 2002, had said that he would consult his workers to decide on his future course of action. Sources say that he has almost decided to contest on MGP/BJP ticket and is preparing ground to quit the Congress.
Asked why he boycotted the last two Congress party coordination committee/PEC meetings, the Congress MLA said AICC observer Digvijaya Singh holds meetings with the same senior leaders and no new strategies discussed.