PANAJI
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Thursday likened Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party founder Arvind Kejriwal to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s Asaduddin Owaisi, accusing both politicians of working in tandem with the BJP in elections across India.
Addressing a press conference in Panaji, Surjewala also said that various BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is consistently selling a dummy to the Goan over the resumption of mining in the coastal State, a sector which has been virtually non-functional since 2018 following a Supreme Court order.
“There are two people, which the BJP sends wherever it is losing. One is AIMIM and the second is Kejriwal's AAP. They will wear separate hats, they will seem to be opposing the BJP. But let no Goan be mistaken. At the end of the day, AAP runs its government with the assistance and help of BJP,” Surjewala said.
“There are imposters here who are BJP's B-team. They are here to assist the BJP and provide cover fire to the BJP. We need to be wary of such imposters, who wear the white topi, but actually wear the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) colours inside,” he also said, while referring to AAP.
“Otherwise so many scams happened in Delhi, there is no way they would have been able to rule. He (Kejriwal) would have been behind bars, even if 10 per cent of those scams were to be investigated and taken to a logical conclusion in a court of law,” he said.
The two political parties, Surjewala said, were being used to divide anti-BJP votes. He also lashed out at the Trinamool Congress, while also urging the West Bengal-based party’s leadership to wake up to the fact that its presence would work in favour of the BJP.
“Division of votes is being manufactured, created, perpetuated by BJP. We have an imposter which is only giving cover fire to BJP. The Trinamool Congress needs to think. Are they here to fight for Goa or to help BJP. Whether by their acts and deeds, are they giving cover fire to BJP? It's not too late. I appeal to them,” Surjewala said.
“In a democracy, everybody has a right to fight, I'm not disputing their right, but in democracy, everyone has to understand and comprehend and think and introspect whether by their actions and deeds, knowingly or unknowingly whether they are giving cover fire to BJP... I would urge them to shed inhibitions and help Congress candidates,” Surjewala said.
He also referred to the BJP’s strategy “ while in the opposition “ of maligning the ruling party with scam allegations, without substance.
“This is the same BJP, which tried to malign the Congress government just as they did for the so-called non-existent coal scam in Delhi. And they say so much has happened, we will recover Rs 50,000 crore, we will recover Rs 35,000 crore. For five years they are in power in Delhi, they are in power in Goa nothing has happened proving that they have duped the people of Goa by levelling fake and false allegations against the Congress government,” he said.
“Basically, BJP wants to convert Goa into a coal transport hub for ‘hum do humare do’, not for the Goans. Imported coal passes through our ports, goes to neighbouring States, gives you zero jobs, zero livelihoods, zero revenue. Only destroys your ecology,” he also said.
