PANAJI
The simmering feud within the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) continues to play out on social media, with leaders and office-bearers engaged in a fierce war of words and cryptic public posts.
On Friday, party treasurer Ajay Kholkar took direct aim at the party’s lone MLA, Viresh Borkar, in a Facebook post, mocking his silence over the growing internal crisis.
“In St Andre, there is not just ‘Silent Orchard’, but a silent person too,” Kholkar wrote, apparently taking a swipe at Borkar’s calm stance.
Kholkar also hinted at reviving the party’s trademark street-level activism at Azad Maidan, while warning that Borkar’s “peace” would soon be disturbed.
RGP president Manoj Parab backed Kholkar and posted: “We are coming, be ready.”
The rift began after disciplinary action was taken against Julius Almeida, a close aide of Borkar. Since then, the party has split into two factions. Parab escalated the matter by attacking several office-bearers online. Borkar responded with a single word ” “Peace.” Parab later mocked the MLA’s silence with emojis, calling it cowardice.
The dispute has now spread to senior office-bearers and grassroots workers. General secretary Vishwesh Naik has sided with Parab and accused Borkar’s supporters of “slow poisoning” the party and operating fake Facebook pages.
Borkar, meanwhile, has received strong backing from the St Andre block, which has criticised Parab and Kholkar and urged the MLA to boycott executive meetings until the differences are resolved.
For more than six weeks, Borkar has reportedly cut off communication with the party’s organisational leadership, with WhatsApp messages and emails from them going unanswered.
A crucial meeting aimed at reconciliation is scheduled for this weekend, but the RGP’s next move remains uncertain. One thing, however, is clear ” the internal fire (“uzzo”) shows no signs of dying down.
