Rahul's anti-graft blitz fails in Goa, 'crusading' state chief sacked by Sonia

Panaji: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s much touted ‘Yuva Shakti’ campaign and self-proclaimed fight against corrupt elements within the party, may have met its Waterloo in the coastal state of Goa earlier this week.

The abrupt sacking of John Fernandes as the state Congress president on Monday, reportedly at the behest of tainted leaders within the party, could well mean that Rahul’s pilot project in Goa, to weed out corrupt elements within the party and build new leadership is now nipped in the bud. Fernandes’ appointment ten months back had the blessings of the Gandhi scion, according to top Congress leaders, and confirmed by Fernandes himself.

Fernandes, who had since triggered internal turmoil within the Congress, by sacking senior leaders and starting disciplinary proceedings against several other veterans, has now been replaced by former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who is also a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

“Fernandes was Rahul Gandhi’s choice for state president. The brief at the time of John’s appointment was simple. To clean the party of tainted leaders and infuse new leadership,” an All India Congress Committee secretary who was involved in appointment process told Firstpost requesting anonymity.

Faleiro meanwhile claims that his appointment comes endorsed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who “requested” him several times to take charge of Goa. “I have come because my president has requested me on more than one occasion and I as a loyal soldier of the party could not say no,” Faleiro claims.

Predictably, Fernandes has his own take on why he was chopped and changed with Faleiro.

“Allies of Parrikar in Congress were employed to hasten my removal. There is circumstantial evidence that Parrikar has colluded with corrupt Congressmen to take control,” Fernandes told Firstpost on his exit.

Fernandes was abruptly replaced followed directions by Sonia Gandhi, according to an AICC press release issued late Monday by party general secretary (organisation) Janardhan Dwivedi.

Fernandes’ change comes at a time when leader of Opposition Pratapsing Rane as well as several members of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), are being described in the media as well as in on-record conversations by Congress leaders as the B-team of the BJP in Goa. Fernandes himself in a direct charge Tuesday alleged that the nine-member CLP, led by Rane, was a “floating company of the BJP”. A two-time Rajya Sabha MP Fernandes was appointed president in December last year. Then, Fernandes claimed he had been tasked by Rahul Gandhi and the high command with “reviving the party, ridding it of its corrupt leaders” and installing a new young leadership.

The appointment followed more than a year after the then ruling Congress faced its worst ever electoral defeat in the state assembly elections in 2012, when it was reduced to an unprecedented single digit, 9, in the 40 member Goa legislative assembly. Most of the top Congress leadership, including then chief minister Digambar Kamat, home minister Ravi Naik, were linked to either the drug or the mining mafia or were embroiled in a range of scams and the party faced a mammoth crisis of confidence and credibility. Fernandes, who had been out of active politics for more than a decade at that time, seemed a maverick choice as the state party chief. But the chopping and changing of office-bearers and party leaders effected during his short regime, seemed to leave Fernandes with more enemies than friends. John in his defence, claimed that the sidelined leaders were either tainted, had miserably lost their seats or were the proverbial “Aaaya Rams and Gaya Rams”.

The emphasis on youth resulted in a revamp in the party’s panel of spokespersons, whose combined average age was less than 35 years.

While several Congress leaders were expelled from the party, other heavy weights like former South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, former home minister Ravi Naik and others like Joaquim Alemao, were charged with indiscipline and enquiries were initiated. Fernandes at the point claimed that he was on Rahul Gandhi’s mission to cleanse the party and the purge was as per the vice president’s wishes, even as All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Goa, Digvijaya Singh advised Fernandes on an interview on cable news channel to “speak less, work more”.