News Analysis India

Tag: Kiran Kandolkar

  • Prashant Kishor responsible for our defeat in Goa: State TMC chief Kiran Kandolkar as he resigns

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Goa Trinamool Congress chief Kiran Kandolkar resigned on Wednesday and alleged that political strategist Prashant Kishor was responsible for the “humiliating” defeat of the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the recent state Assembly polls who also tried to “blackmail” the Congress.

    Addressing a press conference, Kandolkar claimed that Kishor ended up helping BJP to form the government after the polls.

    The resignation of Kandolkar and two other leaders, who had contested on the TMC symbol, came as another setback for the Mamata Banerjee-led party which is struggling to retain its flock in Goa since the poll debacle.

    The TMC drew a blank in its maiden electoral outing in Goa.

    “Prashant Kishor was responsible for the TMC’s humiliating defeat in Goa polls. He was in Goa to blackmail the Congress and eventually ended up helping the BJP to form the government again,” Kandolkar alleged.

    He, however, didn’t elaborate on the “blackmail” charge against Kishor, who recently declined to join Congress.

    Kandolkar, along with Tarak Arolkar, and Sandeep Vazarkar have resigned from the primary membership of the Mamata Banerjee-led party.

    Days earlier, Kandolkar’s wife Kavita Kandolkar had also quit the TMC, owing to “pressure” from her supporters.

    Soon after Kavita Kandolkar’s resignation move, the Goa TMC tweeted that the party was restructuring the entire AITC Goa State Committee with immediate effect.

    Kiran Kandolkar had quit as the working president of the Goa Forward Party to join the TMC in the run-up to the polls held in February this year.

    Kandolkar and his wife had contested on TMC tickets from Aldona and Thivim constituencies, respectively, but lost.

    “We did what we felt right at that time. It’s human to commit a mistake. We did commit a mistake,” Kandolkar said when asked if joining the TMC was a mistake.

    Calling for all the Opposition parties to unite to defeat the BJP, Kandolkar conceded that the split of votes went in favour of the BJP.

    Kandolkar said he would neither join any political party nor float a new one.

    “I don’t want to split anti-BJP votes further,” he added.

    The BJP won 20 seats in the 40-member House and returned to power with the support of two MLAs of MGP and three Independents.

  • Goa Trinamool chief claims Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC abandoned party candidates after polls

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Goa Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Kiran Kandolkar has claimed that their political consultant I-PAC abandoned the party candidates after the state Assembly polls held last week.

    Talking to reporters here on Monday, Kandolkar also said he was not quitting as TMC’s Goa unit chief, but was upset with I-PAC head Prashant Kishor and his team.

    There have been speculations since some time about a rift between the TMC and I-PAC (Indian Political Action Committee), which had helped the Mamata Banerjee-led party during the West Bengal Assembly polls.

    The TMC contested the Goa Assembly elections in alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).

    Polling was held on February 14 and the counting of votes will be done on March 10.

    Kandolkar had contested the election from Aldona Assembly seat, while his wife Kavita contested from Thivim on TMC’s ticket.

    He claimed that most of the TMC candidates in Goa felt they were abandoned by the I-PAC after the polls.

    “All candidates fielded by the TMC have some or the other issues with the I-PAC. When the candidates told me about their issues with Prashant Kishor and his I-PAC team, I discussed the matter with my party workers, who advised me to quit as the TMC Goa president,” he said.

    “I am not quitting as TMC Goa head, but I am upset with Prashant Kishor and the I-PAC team,” he said.

    A meeting of all party candidates has been called on Tuesday to discuss the polling in their respective Assembly constituencies, he added.

  • Goa Forward Party working president Kiran Kandolkar quits party ahead of Goa polls, joins TMC

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Goa Forward Party (GFP) working president Kiran Kandolkar quit the party on Saturday in protest against a possible alliance with the Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls and joined the Trinamool Congress.

    Kandolkar was welcomed in TMC by the party MP Mahua Moitra and TMC national vice president Luizinho Faleiro.

    Kandolkar, a former BJP MLA, had joined GFP in 2020.

    Incidentally, he was declared the GFP candidate from the Aldona seat for the Assembly polls scheduled early next year.

    “But the Congress has already started campaigning there. I feel Congress will ditch the Vijai Sardesai-led party at the last minute. I feel that parties like Congress and AAP are not serious about defeating BJP,” he told reporters.

    Kandolkar said the Mamata Banerjee-led party is only capable of defeating the BJP in the next year’s polls.

    “Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal can’t defeat Narendra Modi. But Mamata Banerjee has shown in West Bengal that she can fight back and hand BJP a drubbing,” he added.

    In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, the Congress had won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House restricting the BJP at 13.

    However, the BJP allied with regional parties- GFP and MGP- to form a government under the late Manohar Parrikar.