‘Party has taken a tough stance of defectors by not giving them any tickets’
@the_news_21
Mumbai: The ensuing February 14 Goa Assembly election is a straight contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and not between any other party, argued Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday.
Claiming that the Congress would form the next government “in partnership with the people of Goa” if it came to power, the Gandhi scion said that the party has taken a tough stance on defectors this time by not giving them tickets. He said this while addressing a virtual public rally in BJP Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s constituency in Sankhali (Sanquelim).
The former Congress president remarked, “We have given tickets to new faces. Congress will form a government with full majority.” He appealed to the Goan electorate not to “waste votes” by exercising their franchise for the benefit of other parties. Rahul Gandhi was on a day-long tour of Goa.
Rahul Gandhi contended that the biggest difference between the BJP and the Congress’ style of functioning was that the former took decisions without holding any discussion with the public.
Earlier, emulating the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) strategy, all the contesting Congress candidates signed a legal affidavit in the presence of Rahul Gandhi vowing not to defect.
The affidavit was also signed by the candidates of Goa Forward Party (GFP) which has a pre-poll alliance with Congress. All candidates took an oath on their affidavits pledging not to resign from the party or switch over to any other political party in the next five years.
The Congress, which had emerged as the single-largest party in the 2017 Goa Assembly election by winning 17 of the 40 Assembly seats, had ultimately failed to form the government. The party was dealt a major blow in 2019 when ten of its Congress MLAs had switched allegiances en masse to join the BJP. The current Congress strength is down to just two MLAs comprising of former Chief Ministers Pratapsingh Rane and Digambar Kamat.
Calling for the need to protect Goa’s environment, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his promise made during his October visit to the State that the Congress would not let Goa be “transformed into a coal hub”.
Rahul Gandhi further remarked, “We don’t want ‘two India’s’ – one of Adani’s and Ambani’s and the other of the poor…If the Congress forms a government in Goa, then it will be a government that looks after the welfare of the poor. We are taking a historic decision in Goa. We are going to implement the ‘Nyay’ scheme here by which every month, a sum of Rs. 6,000 will be transferred directly to the bank account of the poorest person of Goa.”
The former Congress president began his tour by participating in a door-to-door campaign in the Mormugao constituency for Congress candidate Sankalp Amonkar. The latter (Amonkar) is pitted against the BJP’s Milind Naik, the sitting MLA from Mormugao and a former cabinet minister.
