It may still be reeling under the after effects of its demoralising 2022 loss and the subsequent desertion of eight of its 11 MLAs in Goa, but the Congress here latched on to its victory in neighbouring State of Karnataka and went ecstatic celebrating with gusto on Saturday evening.
While Congress celebrated, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party went missing from the action and there was no reaction from its Goa unit, whose many leaders, including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, were overtly involved in the Karnataka campaign.
The Congress in Goa, meanwhile, termed the Karnataka result as the defeat of ‘40 per cent Sarkar’ by the people of that State.
Its media cell chief, Amarnath Panjikar, said Karnataka rejected false promises of the BJP and its agenda of hatred.
“The results prove that ‘change’ will happen in future too. We are very much hopeful. Big thanks to the electorate of Karnataka who voted to save the state from ‘40 per cent commission Sarkar’,” Panjikar said.
“It has been proved that the BJP can’t hoodwink the people on the lines of religion. It had promised in 2014 to deposit Rs 15 lakh in accounts of every citizen by bringing black money back. But it has failed,” Panjikar said.
Several Congressmen gathered at the Congress House in Panaji to celebrate the Karnataka victory bursting crackers and dancing to the beats of the traditional ‘dholl’ on the street outside their headquarters in Panaji.
GPCC President, Amit Patkar, Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa, GPYC president, Joel Andrade, Mahila Congress chief Beena Naik and South Goa MP, Francisco Sardinha, were among a host of leaders who joined in the celebrations.
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