After many of its MLAs defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, all Congress candidates for the Goa Assembly elections will take a ‘pledge of allegiance’ to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to the coastal state on February 2.
Earlier this month, all 37 Congress candidates had taken a similar pledge at a temple, dargah and a church, joining other parties in case they win 40-seat Goa in the February 14 Goa Assembly elections. Decided not to.
“While our candidates had taken a pledge earlier, it was a ‘community commitment’ that they would not change parties after winning. This time [on February 2]They will take a proper ‘loyalty pledge’ in the presence of Mr. Gandhi and will visit a temple, a mosque and a church”, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief Girish Chodankar told . Hindu,
Mr Gandhi, who will release the Congress manifesto on Wednesday, will address a public meeting in Sankelim (or Sakhali), the constituency of BJP leader and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Despite the Congress emerging as the single largest party with 17 MLAs after the 2017 assembly elections, the party failed to seize the initiative to form the government, led by the BJP – which had secured just 13 seats – from smaller regional parties. To combine with. Such as Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
This setback was followed by a major setback in 2019, when 10 Congress MLAs switched allegiance to join the BJP. The current strength of the Congress has been reduced to just two MLAs – former Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane and Digambar Kamat.
‘BJP misusing central agencies’
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Panaji, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan targeted the BJP for misusing central agencies and using money force to engineer defections among other parties, especially the Congress. Simple.
“We all know what happened after the 2017 election… BJP abusing central agencies, blackmailing and conducting raids to break opposition parties… We ask the people of Goa to give a clear majority to the Congress. And we are confident that we will win more than 21 seats this time.
Mr Chavan further accused the Narendra Modi regime of systematically trying to suppress the media in the country and “media blackout” Congress leaders.
“Today the media is completely controlled in the country. There is a ‘red-raj’ against the media… If Congress tries to say something, the media will black out on the instructions of the central government. When Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi tries to say something, black out occurs. People ask why there is no Congress party on TV? How is this possible when the Center is handling everything,” alleged Mr Chavan.
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