PANAJI
In a fresh outreach to disgruntled BJP and RSS volunteers, newly inducted Congress leader Hrudaynath Shirodkar on Thursday said that if the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh can align with the Congress party in Kerala, there was no reason why the Sangh could not ally with the same party in Goa.Shirodkar, along with Mahesh Mahambrey, both RSS volunteers, who hit public eye as part of the former state RSS chief Subhash Velingkar-led Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch movement against the BJP-led government in Goa some years back, joined the Congress party in the presence of Chodankar at the state Congress headquarters in Panaji.
"The Sangh does not instruct its members to join a particular party. But if you go to Kerala, the Sangh is aligned with the Congress, they are not with the Left, because the ideology is completely different," Shirodkar told reporters, after formally joining the Congress.
"When the Sangh can align with Congress in Kerala, it can also align with the Congress in Goa. We will definitely appeal. That is our role. When we come from that family, it is our role to reach out to them and convince them. There is a national issue now. But we need to protect Goa and we will take all the tough steps to safeguard the interests of Goa," Shirodkar also said.
The entry of the duo into the party, is perhaps the first such instance of the Congress making a public outreach to RSS-aligned residents of Goa, who are disgruntled with the incumbent BJP-led coalition regime in the coastal state.
Mahambrey claimed that there was a lot of disillusionment in the BJP and RSS rank and file vis a vis the performance of the government and its "anti-Goa" agenda and that his joining the opposition party along with Shirodkar would open the floodgates in the coming days.
"There is a lot of suffocation in the BJP. People will start joining (Congress) now. Someone needed to make a start. We have done it. Now they will follow," Mahambrey said.
