Staff ReporterMapusaAll India Trinamool Congress’ Goa unit president Kiran Kandolkar along with the party’s three candidates in the recent state assembly polls and workers on Wednesday resigned from the party.Kandolkar held political strategist Prashant Kishor responsible for the defeat of the party in Goa and said that instead he helped BJP to win the elections.Addressing media persons, Kandolkar, in the presence of the party’s Mapusa, Siolim and Porvorim candidates Tarak Arolkar, Leo Dias, and Sandip Vazarkar respectively, panchayat members and other party workers, announced about his exit from TMC as he had resigned from its primary membership along with others in Mapusa. Kandolkar said that the decision was taken after consulting his supporters.Stating that the TMC has no future in Goa, Kandolkar said, “I don’t blame TMC but hold Prashant Kishor responsible for the humiliating defeat in Goa as the party had given responsibility to him. He may be the biggest political strategist but he has failed in Goa.”He further said, “Prashant Kishor’s entire strategy has failed. First Aleixo Reginaldo had joined but he failed to retain him in the party which was a loss for us. Secondly, he failed to bring Mamata Banerjee to Goa during the last leg of election while another party’s national leader had come and campaigned in Goa.”Kandolkar further said that Kishor came to Goa to blackmail the Congress party and Sonia Gandhi adding, “He wanted to show that if he is not taken then he would reduce the Congress vote share.The opposition was divided so BJP is ruling with 33% of vote share while 67% vote share was divided for which the opposition and Prashant Kishor is responsible. He eventually ended up helping BJP to form government again in Goa.”Replying to a question whether he had made a mistake, Kandolkar said, “We did what we felt was right at that time. It’s human to commit a mistake. We did commit a mistake.”Kandolkar also accused IPAC Company of cheating Goans and said, “Huge bills of taxi drivers, volunteers who were employed during polls, printers, hoarding and others were not paid.”Kandolkar further said that the opposition parties have failed to unite which has resulted in victory of BJP.Commenting about his future plans, Kandolkar said that he would work for people as an independent and not float a new party.It may be recalled that on Tuesday, Colvale ZP and Tivim candidate Kavita Kandolkar, who is Kiran’s wife, along with 32 supporters, had resigned from the party.
Party to restructure Goa state committeePanaji: On a day when Colvale Zilla Panchayat member Kavita Kandolkar, a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party and wife of Goa TMC president Kiran Kandolkar, quit the party along with all her supporters from the Thivim constituency, the All India Trinamool Congress announced on Monday that it has decided to restructure the entire Goa state committee with immediate effect.Kavita Kandolkar was also a candidate of the TMC party during the recently-held Goa Assembly polls. She has resigned from the primary membership of TMC, along with sarpanchas, panchayat members and her supporters. She has submitted her resignation letter to the Goa TMC president.Kandolkar said she took the step following pressure from her supporters, as the Mamata Banerjee-led party was not accepted by the people of Goa at the Assembly polls.She also said that I-PAC and its then mentor Prashant Kishor had failed to fulfill the promises made before the elections on behalf of TMC.“People who have not been paid their money for various services during the elections were coming to my residence asking for the pending dues. This is also one of the reasons why I quit the party,” she said.Meanwhile, the TMC has said that it has decided to restructure the Goa state executive committee with immediate effect. “A newly-constituted ad hoc committee will be announced shortly,” the party tweeted. “We take this opportunity to reiterate our solemn commitment towards working for the people of Goa and their well-being,” the party said.
