Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for "stealing" the mandate of the people of Goa in the 2017 Assembly elections in the state through corruption.

Addressing a press conference here ahead of the assembly elections, the former Congress chief said, "Unemployment in Goa can be seen. The entire state of Goa knows the condition of the tourism sector here and the problem of mining. The BJP had stolen the mandate of the people in the last election. This was not the original mandate of Goa. Goa had chosen the Congress party's government five years ago. The BJP stole the mandate of Goa by corruption and giving money. In the five years, they did not do any work of development. Now they say that nothing was done before 2012."