Congress not serious about LS elections in Goa: Sawant

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Thursday said the Congress was not serious about the Lok Sabha elections in the state and hence none of its national leaders could be seen campaigning.

He said his party- BJP, on the other hand, was serious about both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa and hence Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders like Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu and Devendra Fadnavis were campaigning in the state.

The chief minister was speaking while addressing a press conference along with the coalition partners, including Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte (independent), Art and Culture Minister Govind Gawade (independent) and Ports Minister Jayesh Salgaonkar (Goa Forward Party).

"Congress is not serious about Goa as far as elections are concerned. From the time elections were announced till date, no national leader of the Congress visited Goa...Forget about national leaders, their own MLAs are not with the official candidate," he said.

The BJP has fielded both its sitting MPs Shripad Naik (North Goa) and Narendra Sawaikar (South Goa). Congress's Goa unit president Girish Chodankar is contesting from North Goa, while former party MP Francis Sardinha from South Goa.

Taking a dig at the Congress, Sawant said, "The Rahul Gandhi-led party, which ruled the country for seventy years, is now talking about 'nyay' (justice) and 'swabhiman' (self-respect)."