Rahul Gandhi was in Mapusa on Monday. And he spoke for 18 minutes. But, did he say the right things? His comment that Goa would not be remote controlled from Delhi appears to have hit the BJP where it hurts. It might be recalled that party president Amit Shah had stated, at a public meeting, that the next state government (presumably of the BJP) would be supervised by Manohar Parrikar, which would effectively make the Union Defence Minister an extra-constitutional entity. Another weak spot targetted by Gandhi was the issue of employment. The BJP had promised to create 50,000 jobs, but the fact that the party manifesto was silent on the jobs generated gave the Congress the advantage. Where the AICCI vice-president was less convincing was on his assertion that the Congress would not compromise on corruption. One does not have to go too far into the past to dig out two elections (2012 in Goa and 2014 Lok Sabha) lost by the Congress on the plank of corruption. The reluctance of the party to earnestly put its weight behind the Lokpal is a sour point and the party will have to do more to convince the electorate that it takes corruption seriously. Eliminating graft from governance is a task that all parties promise but never implement, so why should anyone believe the Congress will deliver on this pledge?
