Panaji, Oct 18 Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will on Sunday participate in the party’s ongoing ‘Goy Rakhon Yatra’ (Save Goa Campaign), a public outreach initiative ahead of the 2027 Goa assembly polls, a party functionary said.
The Opposition party’s campaign in the coastal state will conclude on Sunday, he said.
A Congress leader had earlier said that Gandhi’s participation will provide a national-level focus to the party’s campaign.
Gandhi will arrive in the coastal state in the afternoon. He would walk with the Congress workers in Margao town and later address a public meeting there, the party’s Goa in-charge, Manikrao Thakare, told reporters in Margao.
The 27-day-long ‘Goy Rakhon Yatra’, which was led by Leader of Opposition in the Goa Assembly Yuri Alemao and state party president Girish Chodankar, will culminate on Sunday, he added.
Gandhi will announce the party’s future plan of action during his address in Goa, Alemao told reporters.
The yatra received overwhelming response across all the constituencies, he claimed.
“We have received so much love during the yatra. Everyone joined the yatra in their own way,” Alemao said.
Chodankar said Gandhi has special affection for Goa, which he has expressed time and again.
Targeting the BJP, he alleged that the ruling party tried its level best to ensure that Gandhi does not address a public meeting in Goa.
“There is a special storm that has started in the country, and the BJP has no might to stop it,” he said, claiming that the BJP tried to create hurdles for the Congress’s event on Sunday.
“But we overcame all of it, and Gandhi will be addressing a public meeting in Margao,” Chodankar said.
The yatra, which began on September 22, covered all 40 assembly constituencies in the coastal state. The Congress has projected the campaign as a movement to safeguard Goa’s land, identity, environment and cultural heritage, while reaching out to people across the state.
The Congress’s campaign has raised issues including land conversion, unemployment, corruption, public safety and the preservation of Goa’s distinctive social and cultural identity.
The campaign comes ahead of the 2027 Goa assembly elections, with the Opposition party seeking to strengthen its grassroots presence and mobilise support across constituencies, including those represented by the ruling BJP.
(PTI News)
