Congress concedes defeat in Goa, says it will sit in opposition

Panaji: Congress on Thursday evening said it respected people’s mandate in the Goa Assembly elections and would sit in opposition.

The BJP won because non-BJP votes got split, it claimed.

The incumbent BJP has won 20 out of 40 seats in Goa while Congress has won 10 and its candidate was leading on one seat.

State Congress chief Girish Chodankar told reporters here that he took responsibility for the party’s performance.

“I own the responsibility…we were not able to convince people not to split the votes,” he said in the presence of Congress’ Goa election in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao.

“I feel that I have failed as Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president and time has come to replace me,” Chodankar added.

Ruling out any attempt to form government by splitting the BJP, Chodankar said Congress did not want to “act like the BJP” and would rather prefer to sit in the opposition.

BJP had formed government in Goa in 2017 even after failing to gain simple majority.

Chodankar said the BJP managed to win by splitting votes through other parties. Congress lost seven to nine seats because other parties split non-BJP votes, he claimed.