Barely a month before the Assembly elections in Goa, the Congress party on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of creating a financial emergency in the state.
Congress alleged that BJP has built up about 1.75 lakh debt for each Goan.
Addressing a press conference today, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee Girish Chodankar said, "BJP government in Goa has led the state to bankruptcy and a financial emergency has been created in the state. In 10 years, they took the debt of the state from Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 27,000 crore. This works out to Rs 1.75 lakh debt for each Goan. Where have central funds been spent?"
"We also charged the BJP government here of destroying Goa's unique environment by pushing through three linear projects, turning Goa into a coal hub, disrupting public hearings of Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP)," he said.
This comes hours after the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced poll dates for five states with Uttar Pradesh going for a seven-phase election from Feb 10, Manipur to go for a two-phase election from Feb 27 and Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand to face elections on February 14.The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10.
The poll dates were announced by CEC Sushil Chandra at a press conference here. With the announcement of poll dates, the model code of conduct has come into force.
In March 2017, the Goa election results were declared wherein Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 13 seats and the Congress 17 in the 40-member assembly.
The BJP formed an alliance with Goa Forward Party (GFP), Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and two Independents, following which they had claimed a majority in the 21 in the 40-member house. At that time, the Goa government led by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar came to power.
In 2017 polls, former Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar performed poorly and could not win on his own constituency of Mandrem, where he lost to Dayanand Raghunath Sopte by a significant margin.
This year, Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress, MGP, GFP among others will be contesting the polls.
( With inputs from ANI )
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