Sonia Gandhi accepts Goa Congress chief's resignation

PANAJI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the resignation of the party's Goa unit chief Luizinho Faleiro who stepped down from the post last week, senior leader Chandrakant Kavlekar said here today.

Faleiro had tendered resignation claiming that "some MLAs feel that his continuation was creating hindrance to the formation of party's government in Goa".

"The party high command as well as the state party president himself have informed all the MLAs that his (Faleiro's) resignation has been accepted by the AICC president Sonia Gandhi," the Opposition Leader told reporters.

Kavlekar said the party leadership was initially reluctant to accept Faleiro's resignation, but he insisted to be relieved of the responsibility.

He said a new president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) would be appointed once the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi returns from his foreign tour.

He said the Congress will hold elections for the posts of state unit president and vice-president, besides for the executive committee, between September 16 and October 15 this year.

The Congress, which won 17 seats in the recently-held Assembly elections, failed to form the government despite having a numerical advantage over the BJP.

While the Congress was busy in deciding their leader, the BJP forged an alliance with the Goa Forward Party, the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Paksha (MGP) and Independents, and formed the government under Manohar Parrikar.