Opposition parties in Goa, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Thursday boycotted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s address to the State Assembly with the Congress questioning why Mr. Birla was not giving a chance to party leader Rahul Gandhi to represent himself over his disqualification in a defamation case.
Mr. Birla, on a day-long visit to the western coastal State, addressed a special session of the Assembly on the theme ‘Viksit Bharat 2047: Role of Public Representatives’. Goa Chief Minister and BJP leader Pramod Sawant, Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and other members of the ruling BJP were present.
However, the Opposition parties led by the Congress united to boycott the programme. These included the AAP, the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Revolutionary Goans (RG) party.
