Rahul Gandhi in Goa, Congress candidates take 'anti-defection' oath

Panaji, Feb 04: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is in Goa on a day-long visit, during which the party's candidates took a pledge of loyalty in his presence. The Congress leader met a family during his door-to-door campaign in support of party candidate in Mormugao.

Led by leader of opposition Digambar Kamat, who is among the two MLAs of the party left in the Assembly, the candidates read out the affidavit which promises that they will not resign from the party or switch over to any other political outfit in the next five years.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, party's Goa election in-charge P Chidambaram, its state desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar were present when the candidates took the pledge.

During the visit, Gandhi will also address a public meeting in Sankhalim Assembly constituency, which is currently represented by state Chief Minister and BJP leader Pramod Sawant.

Elections to all 40 Assembly seats in Goa will be held on February 14 and the results will be declared on March 10. The Congress has tied up with the Goa Forward Party (GFP) for the polls. While the grand old party has fielded 37 candidates, the GFP is contesting on three seats.

In the last five years, the Congress was hit the hardest by defections in the BJP-ruled Goa as most of its legislators quit the party. In 2019, as many as 10 Congress legislators had joined the ruling BJP, whose current strength in the Assembly stands at 27.

The grand old party, which had emerged as the single largest force by winning 17 seats in the 40-member House after the 2017 Assembly elections, now has only two MLAs in the House.