"Doubly Guarding Our House": P Chidambaram To NDTV On Goa Defection Fear
NDTV
Dismissing reports of Congress ferrying its candidates to a resort, he said those are "exaggerated stories".
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, who is in Goa ahead of the assembly election results, today said his party is "doubly guarding" its house and will not let it "be burgled" this time. He was referring to the 2017 elections fiasco when the party failed to form a government even after winning the most seats. In an interview with NDTV, he took a swipe at the BJP without naming the rival party.
"The party that steals election is still around. We are aware of who can steal an election," he said.
The Congress won 17 of 40 seats in Goa in the 2017 election but the BJP, after winning 13 seats, took power with help from smaller parties and independents. Two years later, 15 Congress MLAs switched to the BJP, led by the Congress's leader of opposition, Babu Kavlekar, who was made Deputy Chief Minister by the BJP.
As the race for power intensifies following exit poll predictions of another hung assembly in the coastal state, there have been reports of Congress rushing its leaders to ring-fence MLAs and moving its candidates to a resort in north Goa.