PANAJI
As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) declares its candidature from South Goa, the Congress is all out to go solo for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. The assertion came mere hours after the Arvind Kejriwal-led party declared the name of Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas for South Goa seat, where Congress has already got its sitting MP.
Both the parties however reiterated their commitment towards the INDIA bloc in spite of recent developments.
Addressing a press conference, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Chief Amit Patkar while expressing surprise over AAP’s announcement said ‘Congress will go solo for Lok Sabha polls and we have already conveyed our views to party high command’.
Patkar said that the Party’s Screening Committee under Rajya Sabha MP Madhusudan Mistry will meet this week to clear the names for both North and South Goa seat and the same will be forwarded to the party’s central leadership for final approval.
“We have already conveyed our views to party high command that party will contest both the seats. We want to go solo. We have winnable candidates in both the constituencies,” the Congress chief said.
Patkar said that he is surprised over AAP announcement of South Goa candidature, when INDIA alliance has already got its sitting MP Francisco Sardinha. “INDIA alliance talks for seat sharing are still going on and it is not just for Goa. I was surprised why AAP declared the South Goa candidate. If they had to declare a candidate from the North, that would have been accepted as we don’t have a sitting MP there,” he said.
Patkar said that “the need of the hour is that we all come together and defeat BJP. While seating sharing talks are on, AAP is declaring candidates in many States. So we really don’t know what the political strategy of AAP is”.
Congress had contested the 2019 parliamentary poll single-handedly and had managed to win one seats. In 2014, party had lost both the seats to BJP.
