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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to visit Goa today, months ahead of 2022 polls
Congress Goa unit president Girish Chodankar told news agency PTI on Tuesday that Gandhi will address a convention of party workers at the SPM Stadium in Bambolim near Panaji and will take part in various other party-level events during the day.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Goa on Saturday, months ahead of the assembly elections in the coastal state scheduled to be held next year, to meet party workers and people.
Congress Goa unit president Girish Chodankar told news agency PTI on Tuesday that Gandhi will address a convention of party workers at the SPM Stadium in Bambolim near Panaji and will take part in various other party-level events during the day.
On Sunday, the Congress leader will meet fishermen at Velsao. “Rahul Gandhi will interact with fishermen at Velsao (a coastal village) as well as with the people who will be affected by the railway doubling project (that passes through the same village),” Chodankar said.
Chodankar added that Gandhi will also meet people who have been affected by the closure of the mining industry in Panaji, before addressing the convention of party workers at the SPM stadium.
Gandhi's visit comes just two days after Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee began her three-day visit to Goa on Thursday.
On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other senior Congress leaders attended a meeting in New Delhi to discuss the upcoming assembly elections in Goa along with Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur in 2022.
The Congress, which is among the main opposition parties in Goa, is preparing to contest a majority of seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
Party leader P Chidambaram, who has been appointed as the Congress' senior election observer for the 2022 mandate, asserted that the Congress is best positioned to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and form the next government in Goa.
"We enter the election arena with the intention of winning the election and forming a Congress government in 2022," Chidambaram told PTI on October 24, adding that the party's preparations are methodical and strong.
In the 2017 elections, the Congress party emerged as the single-largest party in Goa, but could not come into power as the BJP forged an alliance with some independents and regional parties to form the government.
(With PTI inputs)
