D K Shivakumar rushes to Goa ahead of poll results on March 10

Congress party’s trouble-shooter and KPCC president D K Shivakumar is expected to safeguard the party’s MLAs from any attempt at ‘poaching’ by the ruling BJP

With exit polls predicting a fractured mandate in the Goa Assembly elections, the Congress party’s trouble-shooter and KPCC president D K Shivakumar rushed to Goa on March 8.

Mr Shivakumar left for Goa by a special flight on the directions of the Congress high command, sources in the party said. Elections to the Goa Assembly were held in a single phase in February.

All exit polls gave an edge to the BJP although it was not seen as securing the majority mark of 21 in the 40-member house. Exit polls have predicted a neck-and-neck fight between the Congress and the ruling BJP in Goa.

The Congress campaign in Goa was managed by party general secretary and former KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao.

Mr Shivakumar would camp in Goa for at least three days. He would attend party meetings on March 9 and monitor the election results on March 10, according to his tour schedule.

He is expected to safeguard the party’s MLAs from any attempt at ‘poaching’ by the ruling BJP.

In 2017, Mr Shivakumar safeguarded 44 Congress MLAs of Gujarat at a resort in Bidadi even as he faced Income Tax raids. He did the same for the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka after no party could get a clear majority in the 2018 Assembly polls.