Congress defection a pre-poll deal with the BJP, says AAP

Team Herald 

PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vice president Valmiki Naik on Wednesday criticised the Congress for failing to take any significant action against the eight defectors (MLAs) and suspected that because of its pre-poll deal with the BJP, the grand old party isn’t taking legal action against the defectors.

Naik alleged that Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat were the main people behind this deal. Furthermore, he mentioned that former union minister and AICC Goa election in charge P Chidambaram and AICC Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao and former Congress President Girish Chodankar were all involved in the deal.

“It is the responsibility of the Congress to take some serious legal action against the defectors, otherwise people will lose faith in democracy”, he said.

Challenging the Congress to make affidavits of its candidates public as AAP had already done, Naik said that nobody had ever seen the affidavits that the Congress candidates signed prior to the Assembly election. On the other hand, AAP delivered affidavits door-to-door and shared it on social media, making it public. AAP also made sure that constituents can take legal action against a defected leader if the elected candidate switches parties, Naik claimed.

In addition, Naik said, “It is critical to examine whether Congress leaders had represented the party or the people in their affidavits.”