Madgaon (Goa): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for "stealing" the mandate of the people of Goa in the 2017 Assembly elections in the state through corruption.
Addressing a press conference here ahead of the assembly elections, the former Congress chief said, "Unemployment in Goa can be seen. The entire state of Goa knows the condition of the tourism sector here and the pro0blem of mining. The BJP had stolen the mandate of the people in the last election. This was not the original mandate of Goa. Goa had chosen the Congress party's government five years ago. The BJP stole the mandate of Goa by corruption and giving money. In the five years, they did not do any work of development. Now they say that nothing was done before 2012."
The Wayanad MP further said that the Congress party will not allow Goa to become a "coal hub" adding that it is not in the interest of the people.
"As far as we are concerned, the issue of jobs is critical, but also central to a place like Goa is the issue of the environment. We are not going to allow Goa to become a coal hub. This is not in the interest of the people of Goa. You might ask the question about the projects being decided by the Central government. We will resist the idea of the projects. Just like the farm laws, we will resist the idea of the project, we will not let them happen.
Notably, Congress had won 19 seats out of the 40 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections in the state, while the BJP had managed to win 14 seats. (ANI)
