Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday urged all individuals, organisations and political parties to join forces to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa.
Banerjee also announced that she will visit the state on October 28.
“The people of Goa have suffered enough over the last 10 years,” the West Bengal chief minister said in a tweet. “Together, we will usher in a new dawn for Goa by forming a new government that will truly be a government of the people of Goa and committed to realising their aspirations!”
The Goa Assembly election is expected to be held in February or March 2022.
The Trinamool Congress plans to field candidates in all of the state’s 40 Assembly seats, The Hindu reported. The party is making its foray in the western state after its massive win in the West Bengal elections held earlier this year.
On September 29, former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata, two days after quitting the Congress.
Faleiro had said that he was joining the Trinamool Congress because Goa needed a credible alternative. He added that Goa needed a “streetfighter” like Banerjee to end the state’s suffering.
Faleiro had said that he felt “dejected, shocked and utterly betrayed” in 2017 after the All India Congress Committee asked him to wait when he wanted to stake claim to form the government in Goa.
In the 2017 Goa election, the Congress had won 17 seats, while the BJP won 13 seats. However, the saffron party succeeded in forging an alliance with regional parties and formed a government under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.
In 2012, the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party in Goa, winning 21 seats as against the Congress’ tally of nine seats.
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