Local Goa News

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Goa election likely to be multi-corner fight

Doubts over Arlekar and Tawadkar’s winnability surface in BJP’s internal survey; Porvorim and Savordem on watch list too

PANAJI: The 2017 Goa assembly election is up for a multi-corner fight with the prospects of an alliance of opposition parties looking a distant possibility.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is the keenest in forging the alliance with like-minded parties in the state to keep the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) out of power during the next term of the Goa legislative assembly.

NCP state chief Jose Philip D’Souza said that the state needs an alliance of all secular parties to ensure BJP’s defeat during the 2017 elections. “I have been saying right after the Bihar election results that we need a grand alliance in Goa too like the one which brought the Nitish Kumar government. But somehow, the Congress, which we consider as the senior partner in the alliance, has not shown any interest in forming the alliance and time is running out,” he said.
In the eventuality of the Congress party going solo to the polls, the NCP proposes to align with the other parties including Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP). “If the Congress party remains stubborn on its stand not to form an alliance then we will form an alliance with other regional parties,” he said.
When asked about the proposal for seat sharing, D’Souza said that if the grand alliance is formed then as principal opposition, the Congress party, could contest on 50 per cent of the seats, that is 20 constituencies, and the rest could be distributed among the other parties. “We would stake claim on seven seats as we had contested seven during the last elections,” he said.
However, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Luizinho Faleiro once again, red-flagging the road to formation of alliance with other political parties, said that the Congress will contest all the 40 constituencies on its own capacity. “We have maintained that there cannot be an alliance with parties as there are none who actually exist and they are individuals who are holding the party names,” he said.
Stating that the party is gearing up to declare its candidates, Faleiro said, “We are in the process of shortlisting the candidates and the names will be announced soon. We are confident that we have candidates for all the constituencies.” Faleiro, however, hinted that if the party was not able to put a strong candidate, it would accommodate individuals in the party fold and contest the elections in some constituencies.
Meanwhile, the GFP has not shown a keen interest in forging an alliance without the Congress party. GFP president Prabhakar Timble said, “We have not applied our mind on NCP because it is not just an alliance with the party but also the candidates that will be put up for contesting the elections.”
Indicating that the old wagons will not be entertained by the GFP, he further said that the party’s core values will not be compromised and the GFP wants young blood to be brought into elections for alternative politics, which is at its core of policy.

NT Network Goa News

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