Congress misleading people, Chidambaram should take blame if BJP wins Goa, says TMC's Abhishek Banerjee

Accusing the Congress of "misleading people" of Goa, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said the party had approached former union minister P Chidambaram for alliance and if the results of the Goa election goes in favour of the BJP, the Congress leader "should come out in public and take the blame on him".

Addressing a press conference here, Banerjee attacked the Congress and said "every vote to Congress is a vote cast for the BJP" in the coastal state.

"All the Congressis are now running BJP and vice-versa. Congress is the party of anything but ideology," he said.

Banerjee said Trinamool Congress has come to Goa as the party has seen "how the mandate of Goa was betrayed in 2017".

He accused Chidambaram, who is senior election observer of Congress in Goa, of "misguiding people to serve the interest of his party".

Banerjee said those spreading lies from the other parties "must be exposed".

"Mr P Chidambaram, for whom I have the highest regard, but the way he has been misguiding people to serve the interest of his party is something that should be exposed and brought to the public domain," Banerjee said.

"He (Chidambaram) said that AITC never made any offer. However, Pavan Varma put this in the public domain that being the national vice-president of AITC , he went to Chidambaram's house on December at 1.30 pm," he added.

The Trinamool Congress leader said Chidambaram is an eminent lawyer and "if he thinks that if we are fudging any information then he can sue us".

"Let us go the court and find out who is lying. Pavan Varma went to Mr Chidambaram's house at Lodhi Road and requested him that we should keep our egos aside and make sure that we fight it out for the sake of every Goans. But he (Chidambaram) failed to rise over his own political and petty interests. This is extremely unfortunate," Banerjee said.

"If the results of the Goa election goes in favour of the BJP, Chidambaram should come out in public and take the blame on him if he is so confident. Congress is misleading the people at large. They are misleading the every Goans," he added.

Taking a dig at Congress, he said people of the state were telling the party that they gave it a chance in 2017 but it had failed to keep its flock together earlier.

"We have to change this and make sure, come what may let BJP use all its might, Trinamool won't cow down," he said.He said Trinamool Congress has come to Goa to clean the politics of this state and make sure the "traitors of this land who are only concerned about their vested interests and not keeping the interests of the public at large will be ousted". "February 14 will be the day of Goenchi Navi Sakal. Goa is ready to bring a change, new dawn, under Mamata Banerjee. Trinamool Congress is the only party that is taking on BJP's might, vigour and juggernaut head-on," he added. Abhishek Banerjee said TMC walked an extra mile to form a unified alliance against BJP.Trinamool Congress (TMC) Goa In-Charge Mahua Moitra had earlier hit out at Congress leader P Chidambaram saying that her party made a "formal and definitive" offer to Congress in Goa to defeat BJP. Moitra, who was responding to Chidambaram's statements about the lack of clarity about TMC's proposal said that if he is not aware of details, he should speak to his party leadership rather than making such statements.

"All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) already made a formal and definitive offer to INC on Goa to defeat BJP. INC leadership asked for time to revert. This was almost two weeks ago. If Chidambaram was not aware of details, he should talk to his leadership rather than making these statements," she had said.

Trinamool Congress, which is keen to leave a mark in its outing in Goa, had suggested a broad alliance but not much has moved on the proposal due to competing interests and apparent lack of faith between the opposition parties. Congress is peeved at the Trinamool Congress "poaching" its leaders.

TMC has announced only 11 candidates so far out of the 40 seats of Goa assembly. Goa will go to the Assembly polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

( With inputs from ANI )

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