Ahead of upcoming Assembly elections in Goa, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) saying that they’re fracturing the non-BJP vote in the state.
In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram asserted that only Congress has the capacity to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections. Chidambaram is the Congress’ senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls.
“Only party that has deep roots in all the 40 constituencies of Goa is the Congress and the people know that it is only the Congress that has the capacity to defeat the BJP despite the latter’s money power and misuse of state power,” he said.
While talking about the poll preparations, the senior Congress leader said that loyalty to the party and the electorate is the first criterion for selecting candidates for the elections and expressed confidence that when elected, they will remain loyal to both the party as well as the electorate.
In a big setback for Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in Goa, as many as five leaders including former MLA Lavoo Mamledar earlier on Friday resigned from the party ahead of the upcoming polls.
Goa polls to be held in Feb 2022
The elections will be held to elect 40 members of the Legislative Assembly in Goa in the month of February 2022. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the schedule for the polls.
The tenure of the current Legislative Assembly in Goa is scheduled to end on March 15, 2022.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main Opposition Congress remain principal contenders for the Assembly elections in the state, even as they try to get allies to fight the intense, multi-cornered battle.
Amid defections from the grand old party to the ruling BJP, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also announced its arrival by getting senior Congress leader and former chief minister Luizinho Faleiro on board.
On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had made an unimpressive political debut in the previous state elections, has again thrown its hat into the ring, keen on making an entry into the electoral arena.
