Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar on Friday said the Congress will not cede or compromise on constitu encies where it has a strong organisational base while forming alliances for the Assembly elections, as he responded to remarks by Quepem Congress MLA Al tone D’Costa on the issue of a grand alliance. Patkar said seats held by sitting Congress MLAs will not be given up under any circumstances. He said the Congress would consider seat-sharing only in con stituencies where the party is organisationally weak or where its vote share is low, and not in areas where it has a proven base and elect ed representatives. Addressing D’Costa’s comment that Patkar should first win an election before taking a firm stand on alli ances, Patkar played down the remark, saying Altone was like an elder brother and that the comment re flected Altone’s personal feeling that he wanted him to win. He added that he had narrowly lost the last Assembly election by a few votes and would otherwise have emerged victorious. The remark had come when D’Costa was respond ing to a media query that pointed out that while he had spoken strongly in fa vour of a grand alliance, Patkar had remained silent when asked about the issue by the media the previous day. When asked to respond to this, Patkar said his views were based on a pan-Goa po litical assessment and not on one or two constituencies. When asked whether the question of an alliance was discussed during the recent meeting of Goa Congress leaders with the party high command, Patkar said the leadership was aware of the situation in the State and that decisions would be taken keeping organisa tional strength and ground realities in mind. On the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Patkar said it was AAP that had decided to contest the Assembly elections on its own, a position stated by its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal himself. He said the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elec tion results showed that the Congress could win without AAP, pointing to victories in Benaulim and Velim, despite those constituencies being represented by AAP MLAs. Patkar also questioned why Kejriwal repeatedly vis its Goa whenever a BJP na tional leader is in the State. Separately, responding to media queries on the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) elections, Pat kar was asked whether the Congress had considered the potential ideological conflict in working with Ut pal Parrikar, given his RSS roots. Patkar said Parrikar must clarify his ideological position, adding that such clarity was necessary when speaking of a united an ti-BJP municipal-level push. Coming back to the alli ance issue, Patkar said the party had erred in the past by agreeing to friendly contests. He said the earlier Benaulim ZP bypoll alliance was a mistake, particularly as the Congress district president had opposed the tie-up at the time. Patkar said he was proved wrong by the subse quent ZP elections, which re flected the Congress party’s strength on the ground. He added that the upcom ing Margao Municipal Coun cil (MMC) elections will not be fought on party lines.
No compromise on Cong strongholds: Patkar on alliance
