Having learned its lesson the hard way, the Goan wing of the Congress Party led its candidates in Saturday’s upcoming general election to a temple, mosque and church, where they all swore an oath not to join the party after their election leaving.
since 2017, 15 of the 17 MLAs in Congress have left the party to join the ruling BJP, and Congress definitely doesn’t want a repeat of that. The oath was taken at Mahalaxmi Temple, Bambolim Cross and Betin Mosque in Goa.
The pledge read: “We, congressional candidates, pledge that after our election we will remain in Congress and work for the betterment of the people for the next five years, regardless of offers from the opposition. We will leave Congress for free.”
The oath was taken in the presence of the Congress leader and senior election observer in Goa P Chidambaram.
Congress candidates from across Goa visit Mahalaxmi Temple, Bambolim Cross and Hamza Shah Darga and swear allegiance to the people of Goa and the party. #PledgeOfLoyalty pic.twitter.com/dtfIFUyuwn
— Goa Congress (@INCGoa) January 22, 2022
“TRYING TO ELIMINATE DOUBTS IN PEOPLE’S MEN”
Senior Congress President and MLA Digambar Kamat said: “We have tried to clear any doubts from the public. Some politicians say there is no point in voting for congressional MLAs since they would go to other parties. These are the same politicians who poach our MLAs. When a son leaves his parents, both the son and the parents are responsible. Parties poaching our MLAs are also responsible.”
Congress also emphasized that the oath was taken to counteract the perception created that voting for Congress was tantamount to voting for the BJP. Recent comments have been made by Arvind Kejriwal, national party leader of the Aam Aadmi party, and Abhishek Banerjee, general secretary of the TMC.
“We need to be more aggressive towards politicians offering money to our people to buy them. Goans are not for sale. So we decided to take an oath before God. At least Goans are god fearing people. We have full faith in God regardless of religion. Goans live in communal harmony and have followed a unified civil code since the beginning,” added Digambar Kamat.
Earlier, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed between Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP in Maharashtra in 2019, the parties’ MLAs made a similar promise.
GOA CHOICE
the The Goa Assembly Elections 2022 will be held on February 14th. The votes will be counted on March 10th.
The last general elections (2017) in Goa were held in a single phase. Congress won 17 of the assembly’s 40 constituencies, while the BJP won 13. However, a coalition led by the BJP formed the government.
This time, Goa’s National Assembly elections are likely to be heated as the ruling BJP seeks to retain power against challenges from Congress and debutants Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
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