Panaji: Revolutionary Goans lurched deeper into internal crisis on Tuesday as members aligned with St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar publicly challenged the legality of their expulsions, raising pointed questions about due process, financial transparency and the very legitimacy of the party’s central executive committee. The expelled members have threatened to send a legal notice to the party, which brings further distress within the organisation.Member Melvin Da Silva, speaking at a press conference, said the suspended members were given no show-cause notice and no opportunity to respond before disciplinary action was taken against them. “We were shocked to see that all of us had been removed from the party. Our suspension is illegal because they should have served us with a show-cause notice and asked for a written reply from us,” he said, adding that a formal legal notice had been served on the party leadership seeking clarification.The expelled members have alleged selective targeting, noting that the CEC issued a show-cause notice to Borkar himself but took summary action against them without following the same procedure. Da Silva also raised a fundamental question about the CEC’s authority to act at all. “How will the CEC function if the party president has resigned?” he said.The crisis has overlapping fault lines with allegations of deliberate efforts to discredit certain members. Founding member Premanand Gaude released chat screenshots that he claims show former party president Manoj Parab making remarks targeting him.Separately, the party’s Sanvordem candidate Vipin Naik reportedly resigned after rejecting the party’s allegations that he had engaged with the media without authorisation and violated the party’s social media policy. Naik’s departure removes another organising presence from a party that is struggling to maintain a ground-level presence ahead of the assembly elections.The question of financial accountability has also surfaced. Da Silva noted that despite repeated assurances from Parab that the party’s accounts would be made public on its website, the website itself remains inaccessible. “Why is the CEC not discussing this?” he asked.Taken together, the developments reveal the party that is fracturing along personal and factional lines at precisely the wrong moment.
