Panaji (Goa) [India], February 24 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa president Amit Palekar said that his party has decided to let Congress contest in both the Lok Sabha seats in the state in the larger interest of the INDIA bloc since they have observed that their rival, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been able to win in the state “only because of split of votes.”
“We have decided to contest these seats as part of the INDIA Bloc. This is important since the seats that have been won as far as Goa is concerned, has been won only because of split of votes. BJP has been winning Goa only due to split of votes. 67 per cent of voters in Goa have been voting against BJP. They have been voting only because they have advantage of split of votes,” Palekar said speaking to ANI on Saturday.
The AAP Goa president said that as part of the seat-sharing talks with the INDIA bloc, the Congress wanted to contest from the South Goa Lok Sabha constituency as it won from South Goa in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but the AAP has decided to let Congress contest in both the Lok Sabha seats in the state.
“Under the talks with INDIA bloc, since Congress had a sitting MP they were demanding that they get the South Goa seat. We asked for an adjustment in some other seat. In the end, our national leaders of the INDIA Bloc Kejriwal, Sandeep Pathak along with Congress decided that both the seats of Goa along with consensus from the local leadership have decided to give both the seats to Congress party to contest,” Palekar said.
Palekar said that the AAP has decided to let Congress contest from both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa in the larger interest of the INDIA bloc and the country as it was the only option available to defeat the BJP.
“We have decided that in order to defeat BJP the only option for us is to come together. In the larger interest of the INDIA bloc and in the larger interest of India as a country we have taken this decision. We have announced that both the seats of Goa- North Goa and South Goa will be contested by Congress under the INDIA bloc and we are going to be part of the election campaign and booth management. In every possible way, we are going to assist Congress to win these seats and make the INDIA bloc stronger,” Palekar said.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary and MP Mukul Wasnik said that as part of the seat-sharing deal, the Congress would be contesting both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.
The BJP and the Congress won one seat each in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. While the BJP got 51.9 per cent votes , the Congress secured 43.6 per cent. In North Goa, the BJP won with a margin of 18.7 per cent votes. In South Goa, the Congress won with a margin of 2.3 per cent. (ANI)
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