Smarting from the defection of several of its MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, all Congress candidates for the Goa Assembly elections will be taking a 'loyalty pledge' with 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, vowing not to defect to other parties in the event of winning the 40-seat Goa Assembly elections slated for February 14.
“While our candidates had taken a pledge earlier, it was meant to be a ‘community commitment’ that they will not switch parties after winning. This time [on February 2], they will be taking a ‘loyalty pledge’ proper in the presence of Mr. Gandhi and will be visiting a temple, a mosque and a church”, Girish Chodankar, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee chief, told The Hindu.
Mr. Gandhi, who will be releasing the Congress’ manifesto on Wednesday, will address a public meeting at Sanquelim (or Sakhali), which is BJP leader and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s constituency.
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, leading the BJP — which had secured just 13 seats — to cobble an alliance with smaller regional parties such as the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
This setback was followed by a major blow in 2019 when 10 Congress MLAs had switched allegiances en masse to join the BJP. The current strength of the Congress has whittled down to just two MLAs — former Chief Ministers Pratapsingh Rane and Digambar Kamat.
‘BJP misusing Central agencies’
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Panaji, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congressman Prithviraj Chavan hit out at the BJP for misusing the Central agencies and using money power to engineer defections among other parties, especially the Congress.
“We all know what happened after the 2017 election… The BJP has been abusing the Central machinery by unleashing Central agencies, indulging in blackmail and raids to break the opposition parties… We appeal to the people of Goa to give the Congress a clear majority and we are confident we will win over 21 seats this time,” he said.
Mr. Chavan further accused the Narendra Modi regime of systematically attempting to stifle the media in the country and causing a ‘media blackout’ of Congress leaders.
“The media in the country today is completely controlled. There is a ‘raid-Raj’ against the media… If the Congress tries to speak something, the media will black it out on the directions of the Central government. When Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi try to say something, it is blacked out …. People ask why is there no Congress party on the television? How is it possible when the Centre is managing everything,” alleged Mr. Chavan.
