Congress, BJP concerned over new entrants in Goa polls

While the AAP is eroding the support base of Congress, BSM and MGP are denting the voter base of BJP

The entry of new players has made the results of the Goa assembly polls unpredictable for strategists in both the Congress and the ruling BJP.
 

According to sources, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is eroding the support base of the Congress, the Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BSM) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) are denting the voter base of BJP. RSS rebel Subhash Velingkar is behind BSM while MGP has been anti-BJP before.

The solace for the Congress managers is that they are on a less weak wicket than BJP. They say the impact of the note ban, which hurt the tourism sector in the state and resulted in job losses, would recoil on the ruling party.
 

“The hotels in general have lost 80 per cent of their business. Locals have lost jobs and contract workers have been sent home,” Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, a Congress leader, said.