Lok Sabha Elections 2024: The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) finalised a seat-sharing deal for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Goa, as announced by Goa AAP President Amit Palekar on Saturday, news agency ANI reported on Saturday.
He stated, "Our national leaders of the I.N.D.I.A Bloc alliance, Kejriwal Ji, Sandeep Pathak, along with the Congress, decided that both the seats in Goa, with consensus from the local leadership, will be contested by the Congress party. We have agreed to contest these seats as part of the I.N.D.I.A Bloc alliance".
This announcement follows AAP's claims, made in separate press conferences on Thursday and Friday, that the BJP-led Union government is allegedly planning to arrest Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) if the party proceeds with its alliance with the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections.
The seat-sharing discussions between the Congress and AAP were under speculation for several months. The final arrangement emerged weeks after AAP offered only one seat to the Congress in the capital, stating it did not "deserve a single seat on merit".
Previously, AAP had announced Venzy Viegas as its candidate for the South Goa seat, but it has now withdrawn the Benaulim MLA, offering the seat to the Congress. Francisco Sardinha, who won in 2019, will represent the Congress in this constituency. Click here to read the full report.
While the national leadership of the Congress acknowledged a delay in seat-sharing talks, its Delhi unit expressed eagerness to contest all seven seats in the national capital.
Established in June, the bloc faced a setback with the exit of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) and the potential departure of Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtra Lok Dal.
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool stepped away from the bloc, rejecting seat-share talks after continuous attacks on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The recent Chandigarh mayoral victory appears to be the boost I.N.D.I.A needed to demonstrate its unity in countering Mr Modi and the BJP. The UP deal contributes to this positive momentum, and the series of AAP-Congress seat-sharing announcements is poised to conclude a successful week for I.N.D.I.A.