Khera’s comment was in response to the AAP’s attack on the Congress over defections to the BJP 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 here.
Seven AAP MPs, including six from Punjab, had shifted to the BJP in April this year.
Read more: 2027 polls: AAP alleges bid to break ‘Goa First’ alliance, asks ally GFP to clarify stand
Earlier in the day, state AAP president Valmiki Naik said defections between the Congress and BJP had become a recurring feature of Goa politics, and the trend would continue in the 2027 elections. The Congress and BJP had together “destroyed” the state over the past decade, he added.
Brushing aside further questions on AAP, Khera said the Vijai Sardesai-led Goa Forward Party had made a “good point” about everyone fighting together against the BJP in the coastal state.The Congress agrees that there should be a grand alliance and the party will listen to the people of Goa on the issue, Khera added.
Read more: 1,000 detained as AAP, student groups take to streets in Delhi, stopped from reaching Jantar Mantar
Soon after the GFP and the AAP tied up for the 2027 Goa polls, Sardesai had said his party was “ready for political realignment, if people demand”. He also said ‘Goa First’ was not a non-Congress alliance and his party was ready to join hands with the other like-minded parties that want to defeat the BJP.
Khera said the BJP government in Goa was “taking away” the state’s forests, rivers, coastline and employment opportunities over the past 15 years.
“The BJP-led government has failed to protect the interests of Goans. The government has taken things away from Goa. Forest cover has declined and changes to the regional plan are being made without adequate consultation with people,” Khera said.
Goa’s unemployment rate was around 8.5 per cent because the BJP government had failed to create sufficient opportunities for the state’s youth, he claimed.
Goa’s youth have the capability but there are no opportunities, Khera added.
“The government has failed to tackle the drugs problem and is giving permissions to casinos without adequate regulation. Goa has been given drugs, unregulated casinos and a kind of development where destruction is visible but development is not,” Khera claimed.
The state government has failed on the law and order front, and incidents of murder, rape, kidnapping, assault, burglary and theft had increased, Khera alleged.
Speaking about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Khera said 1,27,468 voters had been removed from the 2026 electoral roll in Goa.
Khera also questioned the absence of women in the Pramod Sawant cabinet in Goa and said the Congress had historically fought for women’s reservation.
On the ‘Goy Rakhon Yatra’, Khera said the campaign had emerged as a model that the Congress was considering replicating in other states.
“The yatra is allowing Congress workers to engage directly with people and discuss issues like environment, employment, land and development,” he said.
He urged all to “save Goa, save the Constitution and save democracy”.
