Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday pitched the Aam Aadmi Party as a third political option in Goa, claiming Goans, like the residents of Delhi, were “sick and tired” of corruption by the Government led by both the Congress as well as BJP and that the Delhi electoral ‘miracle’ could be repeated in Goa.
Kejriwal, who attended a public rally in the State Capital, the party’s first major engagement as it prepares for the upcoming State legislative Assembly polls tentatively scheduled for January next year, also castigated the BJP-led coalition Government in Goa for turning a blind eye to corruption, while also likening its governance to the erstwhile corruption-ridden Congress regime.
“I had seen an anger against corruption in the people of Delhi before the Assembly elections. The same anger I see in the people of Goa now. People of Goa are disgusted with corruption,” Kejriwal said in presence of a well-attended audience at Panaji’s Campal ground.
Kejriwal, who is on a two-day visited to the poll-bound State, also positioned his party as a viable third political option for voters of Goa, who he claimed were “a victim of corruption, both by BJP and Congress-led Governments in the State.
The Delhi Chief Minister also slammed the BJP-led coalition Government of continuing the bad legacies of the erstwhile Congress-led dispensation citing the pandering of the casino industry as an example.
“Goa has a beautiful and rich culture. Sex, drugs and gambling tourism is not Goa’s culture. The Congress have reduced Goa’s tourism to this. The BJP is also doing the same thing. Goans want people to come for tourism, but to see beaches and natural beauty,” said Kejriwal, adding ahead of the 2012 State Assembly polls, the BJP had promised to do away with offshore casinos parked in the Mandovi river off Panaji.
“Both Parrikar and the BJP cheated the people of Goa with their promise to do away with casinos,” Kejriwal said.