PANJIM: It appears that the Central Congress and AAP leaders are endangering the Opposition Unity in Goa. There is a grave danger that their posturing and one-upmanship, will finally give the Goa BJP a walkover in the Goa Assembly Election in 2027.
On March 10, 2025, in an exclusive interview with O Heraldo, Delhi’s former Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa incharge said that AAP will go it alone in Goa. AAP’s plan to go solo is not only for the upcoming Zilla Panchayat (ZP) polls and the municipal council elections, but also for the 2027 Assembly elections.
"Aam Aadmi Party is gearing up to contest on its own. We will contest the ZP elections on our own, as also the municipal elections. Even for the Goa Assembly polls, AAP is preparing to fight alone,” Atishi, who was in Goa to inaugurate the South Goa party office, told O Heraldo.
With this announcement, the path ahead for the Opposition parties in the State has got even more tortuous.
“What does alliance with the Congress mean?” Atishi shot back, when asked about the GOP, with whom AAP had an understanding for the Lok Sabha elections and also for the ZP bypolls Benaulim in 2024. “Last Assembly elections (2022) they won 11 seats and eight of their MLAs joined the BJP. How can anyone trust the Congress?”
On Monday, April 14, 2025, AICC Secretary and Goa desk incharge Dr Anjali Nimbalkar openly attacked the AAP by saying that AAP is the B team of the BJP. When asked Girish Chodankar’s statement she said, “What interview he has given is the Opposition is compromised. He has never used the word that Congress party or Congress leaders (are compromised). My LoP in the Assembly is well read and during this Budget Session also has been attacking the policies of the BJP government.”
Launching an attack and singling out the AAP she said, “(Chodankar) must be (referring) the other leaders like AAP, which I am telling is the B team of the BJP and other leaders might be compromised. I don’t know about them,” she said. To a pointed question whether AAP is compromised she said, “I don’t know. But I stick to my statement that AAP is the B team of the BJP and I stick to that statement.”
In March too, the local AAP leaders, were at pains to explain that there was need for a coalition with the Congress ahead of the 2027 Goa Assembly Elections. What will be the response of local Congress leaders to Nimbalkar’s posturing against AAP. Are both the Congress and AAP gearing up to give the BJP a cakewalk in 2027 Goa Assembly Elections by going it alone, without having a coalition?