Aside from the defeat to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Goa assembly polls, one thing that majorly embarrassed the Congress on Thursday was losing a part of its vote bank to the state’s youngest political outfit, the Revolutionary Goans Party.
The RGP got registered with the Election Commission just a month ago. It also won its maiden seat, St Andre, with candidate Veeresh Borkar.
RG, as the party is popularly called, gave Rahul Gandhi (RG)’s party a run for its money and hurt the Congress’s vote share in at least five major constituencies.
The Congress won 11 seats in Goa, almost 8 below their expectations, say party leaders. But what hurt them the most was how Goa’s youngest party, Revolutionary Goans, set them back by taking away 1,000-1,500 votes each in Curtorim, Valpoi, Shiroda, and Curchorem.
“It is bad enough we could not win despite our hard work, but a young party like RG has taught us a few lessons,” said a senior Congress leader.
Led by former Aam Aadmi Party worker Manoj Parab, RGP started out as a social organisation built on the premise of fighting to preserve the rights of persons of Goan origin. The party fielded candidates against several heavyweights in the state — including chief minister Pramod Sawant (Sanquelim) and health minister Vishwajit Rane (Valpoi).
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