MARGAO: Will Aam Aadmi Party’s landslide victory in Delhi give the much needed fillip to plans to float a new anti-Congress, anti-BJP regional outfit in Goa?
UGDP vice-President Radharao Gracias said the Delhi election results offers hope that people of Goa will also go by the trend of the Delhi election, where the people routed the two main political players. “The Delhi election result will certainly give a push to the movement to float a new regional party in Goa. I am hopeful that people of Goa will take a cue from their counterparts in Delhi’, he said.
Welcoming the decimation of the Congress and the BJP in Delhi, Radharao expressed his satisfaction over the election result. “We have been waiting for the emergence of a new third force at the national level. Goa and Delhi share many similarities on the literacy and economic fronts. Goa politicians have to take a cue from the Delhi results. All of us have to go to the people on issues and win their confidence”, Radharao added.
Former PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao, who was toying with the idea of floating a new party, said that Delhi voters have shown the two national parties, BJP and the Congress, their place. “People of Delhi have realised that the Congress and the BJP have failed to deliver and have now opted for a third party. In Goa too, the people had rejected the Congress and opted for the BJP, but they are now totally disillusioned with the present dispensation. Only a new regional force will help to satisfy the aspirations of Goans”, he said, adding, “We are watching the developments. There is still time to float a new party”.
Political analyst Adv Cleofato Coutinho, however, said the Delhi result may succeed in Goa only if the leaders and the new party catch the imagination of the people. “In Delhi, AAP leader Kejriwal caught the people’s imagination and won their confidence. If you ask me about Goa’s situation, though there’s a need for an alternative to the BJP and Congress, the leaders have to first catch the imagination of the people”, he said.
Coutinho, however, sounded a word of caution saying that only leaders with credibility will be able to win the confidence of the people. “People will not stand by the leaders unless they enjoy credibility and win their confidence”, he added.
