Launch aggressive poll campaign in Goa, ensure defeat of BJP: Rahul Gandhi tells Cong leaders
Panaji(PTI): Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has directed the leaders of his party in Goa, where Assembly polls are due in February next year, to launch an aggressive campaign in the state and ensure the defeat of the ruling BJP.
Gandhi gave this direction during a meeting of party leaders, which he chaired in New Delhi on Friday, Congress's Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao said in a statement.
Apart from Rao, party's senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls P Chidambaram, general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, GPCC president Girish Chodankar and Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Digambar Kamat attended the meeting.
"Our leader Rahul Gandhi wants the Congress party in Goa to fulfill the aspirations and respect the sentiments of people of Goa," Rao said.
Gandhi asked the party leaders to launch an aggressive campaign and ensure the defeat of the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections, he said.
"We will take along our well-wishers, sympathisers, supporters in our Victory March towards Elections-2022. We are certain to defeat Team BJP," Rao added.
In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, the Congress had won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House, restricting the BJP to 13. However, surprising the Congress, the saffron party had allied with regional parties and came to power.
Over the years, Congress's strength in the Legislative Assembly dwindled to five after many of its MLAs switched sides and joined the ruling BJP.
Gandhi's meeting with the party leaders took place amid indications that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) may jump into the poll fray in the coastal state.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also gearing up for the polls. Earlier this week, the party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal visited the state and announced that if voted to power, his party would ensure that 80 per cent of jobs, including in the private sector, would be reserved for local people. He also assured a monthly remuneration of Rs 5,000 to families dependent on mining and tourism industries till these sectors are normalised.
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Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 100th Saudi Pro League goal
Riyadh (AP): Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th Saudi Pro League goal as Al-Nassr beat Al-Shabab 4-2 to move five points clear at the top of the table.
The 41-year-old forward converted a Sadio Mané cross at the near post with 15 minutes remaining to record the 971st goal of his career on Thursday. It was also his 26th league goal of the season.
“Ronaldo is always dangerous going forward and we saw that again today,” Al-Nassr coach Jorge Jesus said.
João Félix, signed from Chelsea in July, scored three goals for the league leaders.
The win took Al-Nassr to 82 points from 32 games, five ahead of Al-Hilal, which has three matches, one more than Nassr, left to play. Al-Hilal meets Al-Kholood on Friday and faces Nassr on Tuesday in what could be a title decider against its Riyadh rival.
“Now we have a derby match against our rival, which is a difficult encounter,” Jesus said.
“We are fully aware of its importance, and we are dealing with it with complete focus as we know that small details could decide the result.”
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, has yet to secure a major trophy in Saudi Arabia since signing with Al-Nassr in December 2022.
