TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Salcete based regional parties – the Goa Vikas Party and the United Goans Democratic Party – are weighing various options and are expected to take a final call vis-a-vis the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
Both the regional parties are faced with two major questions – whether to contest the coming polls, and which political party or combination to support if they decide against fielding a candidate.
GVP supremo Mickky Pacheco said the party leadership will soon meet to discuss and take a call on the Lok Sabha polls. “Whether to contest the polls on our own or to support any other candidates will be decided in due course of time. But one thing is clear, the GVP will play a major role in the coming election in both north and south Goa”, Mickky told this reporter.
“We will analyse the performance of the central government as well as of the state government. We want a transparent government, which will do a balance between the majority and minority communities and not just bulldoze with Hindutva”, Mickky asserted.
Interestingly, the GVP chief said he has a lot of material concerning the Congress and the BJP at his disposal which he would use to expose them in the run up to the polls.
The UGDP had initially disclosed plans to rally behind the Aam Admi Party candidate, but party Secretary General Anacleto Viegas now says the party is still weighing various options. “The UGPD has not taken a final stand vis-a-vis the Lok Sabha polls. The party Presidium will meet in due course of time how to go about the coming elections. Certainly, we have not taken any decision to support any party”, Anacleo told the Herald on Sunday.
Both the GVP and the UGDP had entered into an alliance on the eve of the assembly polls, but the alliance went awry after the two parties fought against each other in some constituencies.
Presently, the GVP is part and parcel of the Parrikar-led BJP government, but the party supremo is yet to make disclose his mind whether the party support the BJP candidates in the two Lok sabha constituencies.
The UGDP had in the past contested the Lok Sabha polls and had won the South Goa seat when the party was led by then supremo Churchill Alemao.
The party had fielded late Matanhy Saldanha for South Goa in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but had come a cropper. The UGDP has since been de-recognised by the Election Commission since the party’s poor performance in the 2007 and 2012 Assembly polls and will have to forego the Two Leaves symbol in the coming polls following the de-recognition.
