Goa Election 2022: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday came down heavily on Trinamool Congress (TMC) as he accused it of trying to split the Hindu votebank in Goa. He alleged that the claim to divide Hindu votes was openly made by the party in the state and sought to draw the Election Commission of India's attention.
"Polling in Goa is underway and I want to inform voters of one thing. One of the leaders of Mamata Banerjee's party - which is contesting elections in Goa for the first time, was asked if there is any existence of your party in Goa. She was asked why she had come to contest the elections. To that she said that they had allied with one party (MGP) to split the Hindu vote in Goa," PM Modi said while addressing an election rally in UP's Kanpur.
Assembly Election 2022: FULL COVERAGE
"The Election Commission should take notice," he added.
Elections are being held on all 40 Assembly seats of Goa today. The Trinamool Congress is also contesting elections in Goa for the first time.
Trinamool Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, also the party's in charge of Goa, recently said that the alliance with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) will prevent the consolidation of Hindu votes in the coastal state.
The TMC and MGP have forged a pre-poll alliance in Goa. Notably, After the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP, despite winning only 13 seats in the 40-member House compared to 17 bagged by the Congress, quickly stitched an alliance with the MGP and another regional outfit, Goa Forward Party (GFP), to form its government.
The MGP and the GFP later split with the saffron outfit. The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP in the outgoing Assembly.
The BJP had earlier said that the cultures of the MGP which is Goa's oldest regional party and TMC do not match.
Besides TMC, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is also in the fray in Goa this election. The result will be announced on March 10.
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