New Delhi: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut blasted the TMC on Sunday for maintaining an "anti-Congress" stance ahead of the Goa Assembly elections, claiming that the presence of the Mamata Banerjee-led party in the coastal State will benefit the governing BJP the most.


Raut said in his weekly column 'Rokhtok' in the Sena publication Saamana that the TMC has enlisted "untrustworthy politicians" from other parties, including the Congress, and that such an attitude does not fit West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also fighting the BJP.


‘TMC Presence In Goa Will Benefit BJP’: Raut


“The TMC’s presence in Goa will benefit BJP the most,” Raut was quoted by PTI in its report. 


“It is understandable if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s aim is to wipe out the Congress’s existence. But, if Banerjee has the same aim, it doesn’t suit her image,” he further said. 


The TMC is spending lavishly in Goa for the Assembly elections, and many believe the funds are coming from "somewhere else," he asserted without explaining.


In reference to the current state of events in Goa, Raut stated that all political parties had turned the state into a "political laboratory."


He highlighted that the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the previous Goa Assembly elections, with 17 seats, but that it has now been reduced to only two seats.


Raut believes the decrease was caused by Congress's lack of strong leadership in Goa.


Winning Goa is difficult for the incumbent BJP, but he claims that parties such as the AAP and the TMC have thrown impediments in the way of the Congress in order to support the BJP.


Goa Assembly Elections 2022


On January 8, the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared that elections for all 40 Assembly seats in Goa will take place on February 14.


The primary political parties in the race are the BJP, Congress, Goa Forward Party (GFP), Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), and NCP.


(With PTI Inputs)