Goa Polls: Congress will cross majority mark with ease, says Rahul Gandhi

Addressing the mediapersons at a press conference, Gandhi said that the party would look to rejuvenate the state's tourism sector, while also restarting the mining industry at the earliest

The Congress will cross the majority mark in Goa with ease and unlike last time, the party would "act immediately" to form its government in the coastal state, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday.

Addressing the mediapersons at a press conference here, Gandhi also said that the party would look to rejuvenate the state's tourism sector, while also restarting the mining industry at the earliest.

"This time we are going to get a solid majority and we are going to act immediately to ensure that we have a government in Goa. We won't fall short. I think we'll be well above the majority mark with ease," Gandhi said.

Twenty-one is the magic number in the 40-member state legislative assembly.

The Congress had emerged as the single-largest party after the 2017 assembly polls, but the delay in cobbling together the required numbers had resulted in the Bharatiya Janata Party forming a government in the coastal state.

He also said that the Congress would focus on turning Goa into an IT hub in order to address the issue of unemployment in the state.

"I want to go into detail into the issue that is central to Goa, that is unemployment. Why the people of Goa feel that the Congress is best positioned to solve this problem. We propose to focus our money and our energy on creating Goa into an IT hub and knowledge hub so that many young Goans can get jobs in the IT industry and get connected to the rest of the world," he said.

"We are going to allow legal and sustainable mining. This will give large numbers of jobs to the people of Goa. Tourism is a huge asset that Goa has and we will protect that asset. I've spoken to different stakeholders in the tourism industry and I've had deep discussions with them. I have a plan to completely rejuvenate the tourism industry," Gandhi said.

--IANS

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