Congress leader Pawan Khera on Monday hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party, calling it "twice as shameless" as the BJP after the AAP criticised the Congress over defections in Goa.
"The party that has seen six or seven MPs leave and go in the Rajya Sabha is lecturing us about defections. What remarkable people they are (AAP). I used to think the Modi-led party was shameless, but AAP has turned out to be twice as shameless," Khera said at a press conference.
Seven AAP MPs, including six from Punjab, had joined the BJP in April this year.
Earlier, Goa AAP president Valmiki Naik said defections between the Congress and BJP had become a recurring feature of the state's politics and would continue in the 2027 Assembly elections. He accused the two parties of having "destroyed" Goa over the past decade.
Khera, however, welcomed the Goa Forward Party's call for Opposition unity against the BJP, saying the Congress agreed that there should be a grand alliance in the state.
"The Congress agrees that there should be a grand alliance and the party will listen to the people of Goa on the issue," he said.
The remarks came after the GFP and AAP joined hands for the 2027 polls. GFP chief Vijai Sardesai had said his party was open to a "political realignment" if people demanded it and was willing to work with like-minded parties seeking to defeat the BJP.
Khera also accused the BJP-led Goa government of failing to protect the state's forests, rivers and coastline and of not creating enough jobs for young people.
He claimed Goa's unemployment rate was around 8.5 per cent and alleged that the government had failed to tackle drugs and regulate casinos adequately.
"Goa has been given drugs, unregulated casinos and a kind of development where destruction is visible but development is not," Khera said.
He further accused the government of failing on law and order, alleging a rise in incidents of murder, rape, kidnapping, assault, burglary and theft.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Khera said 1,27,468 voters had been removed from Goa's 2026 electoral roll.
He also questioned the absence of women in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's cabinet and said the Congress had historically championed women's reservation.
Referring to the Congress' 'Goy Rakhon Yatra', Khera said the campaign had emerged as a model that could be replicated in other states, allowing party workers to directly engage with people on issues including the environment, employment, land and development.
"Save Goa, save the Constitution and save democracy," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)