Margao: Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal on Saturday held a series of one-on-one meetings with key party functionaries in Panaji, in an exercise seen as an attempt to paper over internal differences and firm up the party’s strategy ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.Among those who met Venugopal was former state Congress president Amit Patkar, whose removal from the post had triggered resentment within sections of the party. Vice-president Sunil Kawthankar, MLAs Altone D’Costa and Carlos Ferreira were among those who held discussions with the senior party functionary.D’Costa said the talks centred on strengthening the party by carrying everyone along, with the political situation in South Goa coming in for particular discussion. Kawthankar said organisational matters and poll strategy were on the agenda.Ferreira described his meeting with Venugopal as “fruitful”, saying the party’s strategy would revolve around highlighting govt’s failures, the everyday problems faced by locals, the “destruction of Goa” and price rise. “All these issues will be taken to the doorsteps of the people,” he said.Ferreira added that the controversy over the newly registered “Goa Congress Party” also figured in the discussions. He alleged that BJP was “definitely behind” the move and said the party would file its objections with the Election Commission.Patkar, meanwhile, said he had raised the issue of his contribution as state Congress president during the meeting. He said he had presented an account of the work he had done to strengthen the party at the grassroots level to Venugopal. “I am with Congress. We will all work together for the party,” Patkar told reporters after the meeting.The flurry of meetings comes amid persistent talk of factionalism within the state Congress unit, with the party seeking to project unity ahead of 2027 assembly polls.
