E-Paper
BJP workers throw eggs at AAP volunteers in Goa
The clash was triggered after around a dozen AAP volunteers visited D’Sa’s residence with a cake to mark the day he defected to the BJP in 2019.
Prefer HTon Google
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Wilfred D’Sa’s supporters clashed with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) volunteers in Goa and attacked them with eggs on Saturday when the latter tried to offer “anniversary” cakes to 10 former Congress legislators, who defected to the state’s ruling party exactly three years back. D’Sa was among the defectors.
The clash was triggered after around a dozen AAP volunteers visited D’Sa’s residence with a cake to mark the day he defected to the BJP in 2019.
D’Sa’s supporters booed, jeered, heckled them, threw eggs, and smashed the cake they tried to offer him.
AAP leader Atishi Marlena, who is currently visiting Goa, launched the “defection anniversary” campaign. “The people of Goa wanted a change, and they thought the Congress represented change. Instead, Congress sold the votes of the people of Goa to the BJP. The BJP bought these votes. Together they form the Congress Janata Party,” Marlena said. “The people of Goa have not forgotten this betrayal.”
Ahead of the 2022 elections in the state, the AAP has launched a “Let’s Clean Goa’s Politics” campaign.
AAP leaders tried to offer cakes to other defectors including minister Jennifer Monserrate who along with her husband Atanasio Monserrate defected to the BJP. The Monserrates did not show up when the AAP volunteers arrived at their residence. Minister Filipe Rodrigues engaged with the AAP volunteers and even had a piece of cake.
The cakes carried a logo showing both the Congress and the BJP symbols.
AAP leader Cecille Rodrigues said, “Today is a reminder to all those people who have voted for the Congress. We have come to the legislators’ doorstep to remind them that they have betrayed the people’s vote.”
BJP spokesperson Narendra Sawaikar called the campaign a “cheap political stunt to gain publicity.”
Goa assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar on April 20 dismissed a Congress plea to disqualify the 10 legislators for switching sides in 2019.
The Congress emerged as the single-largest party in Goa in 2017 by winning 17 seats in the 40-member House. But the BJP, which won 13 seats, formed the government with the help of the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, and independents. Two Congress lawmakers defected to the BJP in 2018 and 10 in 2019.
