01 Dec 2021  |   07:13am IST

Congress now sings pre-poll alliance tune

Goa Forward Party MLAs, 1 Independent meet Rahul Gandhi; Digambar says both parties to fight Assembly elections together
Congress now sings  pre-poll alliance tune

Team Herald

PANJIM: Two Goa Forward Party (GFP) MLAs and an Independent met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his New Delhi residence on Tuesday and extended their support to the party to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Assembly elections due in February next year.

GFP president and MLA Vijai Sardesai, Siolim MLA Vinod Palyekar and Sanguem Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar met Gandhi and alleged that the BJP government in the State was “corrupt”.

AICC Goa in-charge Dinesh Rao and Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat were also present during the meeting, hinting towards a possible pre-poll alliance between the two parties. However, GFP MLA Jayesh Salgaonkar and Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) Girish Chodankar were conspicuous by their absence.

“Had a fruitful discussion with Vijai Sardesai and Vinod Palyekar – MLAs of Goa Forward Party and independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar. They extended their full support to the Congress to bring a positive change in Goa. I’m happy to have their support,” Congress MP Rahul Gandhi posted on his Facebook account.

In a tweet, Sardesai said, “Met Shri @RahulGandhi along with my colleagues @prasadgaonkr13 and @vinod palyekar. We agreed to fight resolutely, wholeheartedly and unitedly on behalf of the people of #Goa to end the utterly corrupt, incompetent and undemocratic reign of @BJP4Goa #ChalYaFuddem!”

The GFP president also posted a photograph of their meeting with Gandhi in Delhi.

After meeting Gandhi, Kamat said both the parties have decided to fight the upcoming Assembly elections together and that the modalities will be worked out at the local level.

Sardesai said, “This alliance is to free Goa from the corrupt BJP. Sixty years ago Rahul’s grandfather former Prime Minister late Jawaharlal Nehru sent Indian Army to liberate Goa from colonial rule and 60 years we will now be the Army to free Goans from corrupt BJP.”  

When asked about the absence of Salgaonkar, the GFP president claimed that there are many more candidates of GFP who are missing in the photograph.

For the last few months, Sardesai had been saying that he was in talks with Congress leaders for a pre-poll alliance. However, there was no green signal from the Congress leadership. But after he announced that the GFP has suspended the alliance talks, Congress Goa desk in-charge Dinesh Rao made an announcement that the Congress was open for an alliance with like-minded parties.

The presence of Gaonkar was surprising as two months back he had announced that he would join the Goa Trinamool Congress Party after the end of his present term. His brother Sandesh Gaonkar and most of his supporters had already joined the TMC.

Also, Chodankar had said the party was in talks with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for a pre-poll alliance.

Sardesai along with his two MLAs had also met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, when she was in Goa over a month ago.

The Congress had suffered a jolt recently when its former Chief Minister and sitting MLA Luizinho Faleiro quit the party and joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC), along with his supporters. The TMC is seeking to emerge as a political force in Goa, so too is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Reacting to the meeting of the leaders of two parties with Rahul Gandhi, TMC leader Trajano D’Mello said the people of Goa will teach a lesson to Congress and Gandhi for committing treason by joining hands with the GFP. 

D’Mello ridiculed Gandhi’s statement that he had fruitful discussion with GFP MLAs and said Gandhi had called GFP members as traitors and betrayers after they joined hands with BJP to form the government in 2017.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar