Congress ‘cannot be trusted’: Atishi says AAP won’t enter alliance for 2027 Goa polls

Significantly, after losing the Delhi assembly polls last month, Goa AAP chief Amit Palekar had said that an alliance with the Congress is “the only way forward” in Goa.

On reasons for ruling out an alliance with the Congress, Atishi said it was “very clear” that “Congress cannot be trusted”.

“Last time, 11 MLAs from the Congress won…eight of them have gone to the BJP, only three are left. And this is not the first time. In the previous government also, last time also, I think there was only one MLA left. All of them went to the BJP. So, how can the Congress party or their leadership or their MLAs even be trusted with an alliance…when Congress MLAs go to the BJP after winning elections,” she said.

Atishi said a former BJP minister has claimed that “there is not corruption, but loot” going on in Goa. She was referring to BJP leader and former Goa Transport Minister Pandurang Madkaikar’s allegations last week that there was “rampant loot” in the state and that he had paid a bribe to have his file processed.

“Everyone can see what is happening in Goa’s politics. If an ex-minister has to face so much corruption to get his work done, then what will happen to a common man? He himself said that he paid Rs 15-20 lakh to get his work done. If the BJP here is busy filling its pockets…that is why people here do not get good schools, good (access to) healthcare,” she said.

Speaking to volunteers in Goa Monday, Atishi said the party should target sending at least 21 MLAs to the Vidhan Sabha in the 2027 assembly election. The state has a total of 40 assembly seats.

“Someone asked me that (since) you lost the election in Delhi, what will happen to the AAP now? The question is not what will happen to the party. If AAP does not win the election, the question is what will happen to the common man of this country? Who will fight for his rights?” she asked.

The AAP had drawn a blank in its first electoral foray in Goa in the 2017 assembly polls, making in-roads in the state in 2020, when it won the Benaulim zilla panchayat seat. The 2022 state assembly polls saw the AAP expanding its footprint and winning two seats, Velim and Benaulim, both in South Goa.

In the Lok Sabha polls last year, AAP – part of the INDIA bloc with the Congress — threw its weight behind the latter’s candidates in the state’s two parliamentary seats, North Goa and South Goa. The Congress bagged the South Goa seat, but lost North Goa to the BJP.