Speaking at a press conference in Margao, Rahul Gandhi said, “he (PM Modi) does not understand the situation of those times and what was happening post-World War II. He is coming to Goa to distract people from real issues like the environment and employment.”
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his statement that if Jawaharlal Nehru wanted, Goa could have been liberated ‘within hours’ in 1947 when India attained independence, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Prime Minister was distracting the people of Goa from real issues like environment and employment.
Speaking at a press conference in Margao, Rahul Gandhi said, “he (PM Modi) does not understand the situation of those times and what was happening post-World War II. He is coming to Goa to distract people from real issues like the environment and employment.”
PM Modi, while addressing an election rally at Mapusa near Panaji on Thursday ahead of the February 14 Assembly polls, had said it took 15 years for the Congress government to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule.
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“This time we will get a solid majority, and we will act immediately to make sure that we have a government in Goa,” Rahul Gandhi said.
On the simmering Karnataka hijab row, the Congress leader said, “I won't get into the conversation which distracts people; my focus is on what is important for the people of Goa.”
Gandhi, who is on a day-long visit to the coastal state, said the Congress would win a majority of seats in Goa and there won't be any need for post-poll alliances.
With the term of the current Goa Legislative Assembly expiring on March 15, the Goa Assembly election is scheduled to be conducted in one phase. The date of polling in Goa is February 14. The counting of elections will be held for all states on March 10, 2022.
Goa elections were last held on February 4, 2017, with Congress emerging as the single largest party with 17 MLAs. The election results threw up a hung assembly in the state, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning 13 seats in the 40-member assembly.
However, the BJP formed a government forging an alliance with the support of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), and two Independents, to reach the magic figure of 21 in the 40-member house.
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