GOA TO Manipur, historical fort to signed affidavit, God to Rahul Gandhi, A beleaguered Congress is leaving nothing to chance to keep hold of its leaders in two states where power had been stolen right from under its nose last time as loyalties changed overnight.
On Friday, Gandhi was present in person in Panaji as 37 candidates of the Congress and three of its ally Goa Forward Party (GFP) swore by the Constitution, to a) not defect if elected till end of their term, b) be honest, and c) not resign or contest election from other parties. This affidavit was handed over to Gandhi, to be delivered to Congress president Sonia Gandhi,
On January 22, 36 Congress candidates had taken a similar oath before God, not once but thrice — at a temple, church and dargah. Party candidates have also signed letters of loyalty, just like the Aam Aadmi Party made its candidates do in Goa, pledging not to defect or to accept bribes.
Parties have a reason to be wary, especially in Goa, where as per the Association of Democratic Reforms, as many as 60% of the MLAs have jumped parties since 2017, from the ones on whose ticket they were elected. The Congress, that with 17 MLAs had emerged as the single largest party, is left with only of those: former chief minister Digambar Kamat.
Kamat, who was among those who took the oath, said he was confident the pledge would work. “Candidates know they are answerable to the people of Goa, and hence no defection will take place.”
Earlier, the party’s Goa poll strategist P Chidambaram called the step “necessary and very important in the light of the past history of Goa”.
Former Goa Advocate General Carlos Ferreira, the Congress candidate from Aldona, insisted taking the pledge was “not at all” uncomfortable, and that one should look at “the larger picture”.
Lavoo Mamledar, who has made his way to the Congress from the MGP, via the TMC where he spent two months, welcomed the move. “It is always better to take precautions.” Asked if this meant all was well, Mamledar, the Congress candidate from Marcaim, said: “We can’t say anything about the future, but as of today, everybody is trustworthy.”
Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai, among the three from his party who took the pledge, said: “We had to disabuse the criticism from quarters like the AAP and TMC that the Congress only produces MLAs and supplies them to the BJP, They (the Congress) have tried to create a bond which is social and legal. Social, by taking them to a temple and church, and legal, with an affidavit… This is all that anyone can do.”
It was the GFP’s support incidentally that helped the BJP overtake the Congress to form the government in 2017. The BJP later dumped it after it got a full majority on its own thanks to defects from the Congress and the MGP in 2019.
In Manipur, Congress candidates visited, by turns, a church, temple, mosque and a traditional Meitei temple, to vow in “the house of God” that “they will not leave the party under any circumstance”. Before that, they also dropped in at the historic Kangla Fort, a symbol of Manipuri pride.
Manipur Congress vice-president Kh Devabrata Singh said “the hope was to instill the same kind of allegiance and loyalty in party members”, as exemplied by the fort. Besides, he argued, the visit to shrines “reflected Congress’s commitment to secularism”.
The Congress had “natural concerns”, he added, “having been a victim of infection time and again”. The BJP can “go to any lengths”.
Manipur Congress election in-charge Bhakta Charan Das and former CM Okram Ibobi Singh were among those who took the pledge.
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