GPCC chief Girish Chodankar briefs the media to highlight the alleged attempts by the government to sabotage Rahul Gandhi’s meeting in Margao. Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC)president Girish Chodankar has welcomed the Goa Forward Party’s decision topursue a grand alliance of Opposition parties to defeat the BJP in the 2027Assembly election.
The Congress leader, however, questioned theAam Aadmi Party’s attack on Rahul Gandhi when he was targeting the BJP’smisdeeds, saying, “If their job is to attack the Congress, my best wishes, andthey should do their job honestly for their masters.”
Chodankar welcomed the Vijai Sardesai-ledparty’s decision to “vacate the stay” on alliance talks with the Congress,saying, “We hope to see things move positively in the future.”
“As of now, we have not engaged in anydiscussions. We were busy with the Goy Rakhonn Yatra. The GFP has alsowithdrawn its ban on alliance talks only recently. Since the regional party hasrevoked the suspension on talks, we will let the media know of thedevelopments, if any, on alliance talks,” he said.
The Congress president, meanwhile, came downheavily on AAP leaders for attacking Rahul Gandhi when the latter had gone allout to target the BJP’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi,Home Minister Amit Shah and Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
“I don’t understand their logic of attackingRahul Gandhi when he has not uttered a single word against AAP, but onlyattacked the BJP. I fail to understand why AAP is getting so disturbed whenRahul Gandhi is attacking the BJP. Our enemy is not AAP. We don’t even talkabout AAP, but we are surprised that AAP is getting so disturbed when theCongress is attacking the BJP.”
On the revival of the United Goans DemocraticParty, Chodankar reiterated his earlier statement that the BJP was ready tofund a new regional party to the tune of Rs 100 crore.
“I am not surprised if the UGDP is contestingthe elections. In the past, the UGDP had supported the BJP. All these partieswill come to split the non-BJP vote,” he said.
Saying that "Goans are not fools",the GPCC chief expressed confidence that the people of Goa would not wastetheir votes, as they knew that only the Congress had the capability to defeatthe BJP in Goa.
Minister wanted to keep Rahul rally out of his backyard: Girish
MARGAO: The Congress has reiterated that the BJPgovernment did everything possible to sabotage Rahul Gandhi’s Sunday rally inMargao by pressuring the district administration and the owners of meetingvenues.
Flanked by Congress leaders from Margao, SavioCoutinho and Chirag Naik, GPCC chief Girish Chodankar accused the BJPgovernment of trying to put spokes in the public meeting organised by theCongress.
“First, they tried to sabotage the publicmeeting of Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharage by denying(permission for) Azad Maidan. They also did not give permission to holdKharge’s meeting at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, prompting the party tofinally organise the meeting at Verna,” he said.
On Rahul Gandhi’s public rally, Chodankar saidthe Margao Municipal Council denied permission for the rally due to politicalpressure from the government.
“Despite the Congress applying first to theMMC for permission, the civic body allocated the Lohia Maidan venue to anindividual. We tried to hold the meeting at the Costa grounds, but again therewas pressure. Finally, we decided to hold the rally at the parking lot of theMargao Cricket Club, where the police tried to intimidate the party leadersbefore allowing the meeting,” he said.
He added: “A minister in the Pramod Sawantcabinet worked overtime to ensure the Rahul Gandhi rally did not take place in hisbackyard just to please Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister AmitShah, since he has set his eyes on the Chief Minister’s post.”
