Summary:
New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) Amid a political turmoil in Congress" Goa unit, the AAP on Monday sought to fish in troubled waters as it appealed to the masses to consider it as an alternative in the country, alleging that the grand old party has become a "B-team" of the BJP.
With the Congress Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao"s claim on Sunday that two of his party MLAs were engaged in engineering a split in the party at the behest of the BJP in the state, it has now been proved that every single vote cast in its favour eventually becomes useful for the BJP, the AAP alleged.
"This has once again proved the slogan -- the Congress" hand with the BJP -- true," Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said in a video message.
He was reacting to the political turmoil within the Goa unit of the Congress.
He said the Congress MLAs had switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Goa after assembly polls in 2017 as well.
"This is not happening for the first time.
Wherever the Congress wins (in election), the people"s votes and support in its favour eventually become useful in strengthening the BJP.
As many as 62 Congress leaders have switched to the BJP in Gujarat," he said.
"The Congress has actually become a B-team of the BJP across the country," he charged.
The Congress" Goa desk in-charge Rao had on Sunday claimed that his party MLAs Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat were "hatching a conspiracy by hobnobbing with the BJP to engineer a split in the Congress." The party subsequently removed Lobo from the post of the Leader of Opposition in the 40-member state Assembly after five of its MLAs, including Lobo and Kamat, went incommunicado, ahead of the start of the assembly session.
The party also moved its five other MLAs to an undisclosed location.
"The Sixth MLA, Aleixo Sequeira, is in touch with the Congress leaders and is very much with the party," Rao had said at a press conference on Sunday.
In a dramatic turn of events, however, all these five Congress MLAs including Lobo and Kamat turned up to attend the assembly proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, and claimed there was "nothing wrong" in the opposition party.
Lobo told reporters that all the five MLAs, including him, won the state assembly election on the Congress" ticket and asserted that they stand with the party.
"See the reality of the Congress.
Its leaders are breaking their own party, MLAs defecting to BJP...
Don"t waste your vote on such a party," AAP MP Singh said in his message to the masses.
"The Congress" hand is with the BJP.