Margao: State Congress president Girish Chodankar on Sunday took an indirect swipe at AAP, questioning why it counters Congress whenever it targets BJP govt over issues affecting Goans.“One can understand BJP getting restless on seeing the growing support for our Goy Rakhonn Yatra. What I can’t fathom is why some opposition parties immediately hit back at Congress the moment we attack BJP,” Chodankar said, without naming AAP.He said the yatra’s slogan — that Goa will not be sold and BJP will not be allowed to win — had evidently touched a nerve. “It makes one wonder through how many mouths BJP speaks. We can understand the CM and his ministers reacting to our criticism, but when some opposition parties do the same, one has to ask what their real agenda is — is it not to defeat BJP?” he said.His remarks came days after AAP leaders alleged that Congress had helped BJP secure victories in civic bodies in other states through cross-voting.In a separate statement, Chodankar accused BJP of engineering a split within RG to disrupt opposition unity, alleging that BJP was working to have the RG symbol frozen by EC.He said BJP had been attempting to destabilise the Congress-RG alliance from the day it was announced. “BJP engineered splits in the Shiv Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra and ensured the party symbol went to its preferred faction. It tried to pressure RG into breaking the alliance. Now, alarmed by the growing public support for the alliance, BJP is trying to engineer a split in RG and get its symbol frozen by the ECI, which is already subservient to BJP,” Chodankar said.He alleged this was part of a broader BJP strategy to fracture opposition unity ahead of the 2027 assembly polls, pointing to the formation of a rival “Goa Congress Party” — a matter currently before Bombay high court — as an earlier attempt to split Congress itself.“However much BJP tries, Congress will strongly stand by RG in any legal battle it faces,” Chodankar said.
