NCP wants more seats in upcoming State polls
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 25
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday said that they will ask for a bigger pie in the pre-poll alliance with Congress during the next State Legislative Assembly elections.
Minutes after taking over the reigns of the party, NCP Goa chief Surendra Sirsat said that the party is growing in Goa and if we enter into a pre-poll alliance, we will ask for more seats as against six constituencies during last elections.
“During last elections we had got six seats, which we will continue to maintain. However, this time, our claim will be for more number of seats as our party is growing,” Sirsat said refusing to elaborate on number of constituencies that they will be claiming.
Briefing media persons, Sirsat stated that the party will identify various constituencies and try to contest for the seats making our presence strong here.
“A proper plan needs to be chalked out. We will have to take party programmes and policies to the grass root level in-order to strengthen party’s base in Goa,” the chief said adding the party will be percolating into all the 40 constituencies.
Sirsat also expressed the willingness to get even into the Congress dominated constituencies.
When asked, Sirsat said that it’s for the high command to decide on whether to form a new executive committee of NCP or to go with the same.
Sirsat was elected as a State NCP president after former president Jose Philip D’Souza resigned from the post after he had a public spat with his party colleague, Mickky Pacheco in the run up for the municipal elections, last month.
Refusing to comment over the tussle between the party members, Sirsat conceded that he has an uphill task of keeping entire NCP family together.
“We need to be united to go ahead and win more constituencies. The views of each party member will have to be taken care of,” he stated.
Before handing over the charge to Sirsat, D’Souza extended full support to the new president in the growth of the party.
“I am with the chief…I have no enmity towards anyone (Pacheco), but whatever happened in the past was really bad,” he quipped.
Tourism Minister Nilkhant Halankar along with other party members Sangeeta Parab, Carmo Pegado, Trojano D’Mello, Prafulla Hede, Rajan Ghate and others were also present for the briefings.
