Congress can't win Goa polls on its own: Shiv Sena
New Delhi(PTI): The Shiv Sena is upset at being given a cold shoulder by the Congress over its proposal to repeat the Maharashtra coalition experiment in the Goa Assembly elections.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said the political situation it Goa is such that the Congress cannot go beyond single digit if it contests the assembly polls in the coastal state on its own.
"The Congress has only three MLAs in Goa. The party's MLAs have deserted it enmasse. Key political parties, we (Shiv Sena and NCP) had offered to support the Congress in its difficult times. But I don't know what the Congress is thinking. It cannot cross the single digit mark if it contests alone," Raut told reporters here.
Raut, who had held a round of discussions with AICC in-charge of Goa Dinesh Gundurao, CLP leader Digambar Kamat and Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar, said he had placed a proposal that the Congress contest on 30 of the 40 assembly seats and leave the rest for its allies.
He said the 10 assembly seats, where Congress has not won elections in the past 50 years, could be allocated to Shiv Sena, NCP and Goa Forward Party.
Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was favourable to the idea of an alliance but the local Congress leadership had a different view.
Raut said the Shiv Sena was ready to support the candidature of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal should he decide to take the political plunge in the assembly polls.
"Utpal has to take the courageous decision to contest the elections. You need to be courageous to contest elections. If he takes that decision, the Shiv Sena will support him," Raut said.
Raut recalled that the Shiv Sena had supported the family of Lok Sabha member from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mohan Delkar, who was found dead in a Mumbai hotel last year.
Delkar's wife Kalaben Delkar won the Lok Sabha bypoll as a Shiv Sena candidate.
Utpal had evinced interest in contesting the assembly polls from Panaji, a constituency represented by his father and four-term Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Utpal had also met Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard. Goa goes to polls on February 14.
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EC seeks BJP's response on Opposition charge of PM Modi violating model code
New Delhi (PTI): Taking cognisance for the first time of a model code violation allegation against a prime minister, the Election Commission on Thursday asked the BJP to respond to complaints filed by opposition parties wherein they have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of delivering a divisive and defamatory speech in Rajasthan's Banswara.
At the same time, the poll panel also asked the Congress to respond to complaints filed by the BJP against the main opposition party's president Mallikarjun Kharge and its senior leader Rahul Gandhi regarding their respective remarks.
In its letter addressed to BJP President J P Nadda, the Election Commission asked him to respond by Monday to complaints filed by the Congress, CPI and CPI (ML) regarding the remarks made by Modi on April 21 in Banswara.
It also asked Nadda to bring to the notice of all star campaigners of the party to "set high standards of political discourse and observe provisions of model code of conduct in letter and spirit".
Officials said it is the first time that the panel has taken cognisance of a complaint against any prime minister. The Election Commission has invoked provisions of the Representation of the People Act to hold party presidents as the first step to rein in star campaigners.
It wrote a similarly-worded letter separately to the Congress president with regard to allegations levelled by the BJP against him and Gandhi.
The letters from the EC to the two-party presidents did not directly name either Modi, Gandhi or Kharge, but the representations received by it were attached to the respective letters and they contained details of allegations against the three leaders.
In its complaint to the EC, the Congress said that Modi in his speech had alleged that Congress wanted to redistribute the wealth of the people to Muslims and that the opposition party won't even spare the 'mangalsutra' of women.
The BJP, on the other hand, had written to EC that Gandhi levelled malafide and utterly sinister allegations against Modi during a speech in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
It also accused Kharge of violating the model code by claiming that he was not invited to the Ram temple consecration ceremony due to discrimination against SCs and STs.
