Goa NCP to get new chief soon

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa will soon get a new chief with its Central leadership considering a few names for the post which fell vacant early last month, party sources said here.

NCP general secretary and Union minister Praful Patel will visit the state, where the Sharad Pawar-led party shares power with Congress, later this week to hold discussions with the local leaders on the issue, they said.

The outfit's Goa unit is without a president after Wilfred D'Souza, along with 30-odd executive members, quit the party on the eve of its foundation day on June 10.

The 77-year-old former CM had challenged the very existence of the NCP, saying the party was formed on Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, which has now become a non-issue.

As the party hunts for a new state chief, leaders like former minister Sangita Parab and Congressman-turned-NCP leader Jitendra Deshprabhu are believed to have thrown their hat in the ring.

"I will go by what my leaders decide," Deshprabhu said, when asked about his prospects of being appointed to the coveted post.

Two of the three NCP legislators are ministers in the Digamber Kamat-led Government. While party's legislative wing leader Jose Philip D'Souza is revenue minister, Fransisco Pacheco holds the Tourism portfolio.