GFP allies with Congress for 2022 Goa Assembly polls, irked TMC calls it `unholy alliance`

GFP MLAs Vijay Sardesai and Vinod Palyekar, along with independent legislator Prasad Gaonkar, paid a visit to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Goa Forward Party (GFP) has allied with Congress for the upcoming Assembly polls next year, party president Vijay Sardesai announced on Wednesday (December 1). 

This comes after GFP MLAs Sardesai and Vinod Palyekar, along with independent legislator Prasad Gaonkar, paid a visit to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi on Tuesday. 

Sardesai told ANI, "I met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday and my meeting with him was very good... We want to come together on the basis of the ideas we share. Seat sharing will also be decided soon.” 

GFP was earlier in alliance with the current BJP-led government in Goa. On the decision to back Congress this time, Sardesai said, "BJP has betrayed me. The current Chief Minister is not like the former CM Manohar Parrikar. Parrikar was running a government with alliance partners, he had the experience of running a government, whereas, the current CM has no experience and is corrupted. To save the culture and economy of Goa, so we have to with Congress and defeat BJP."

TMC which has announced to contest its maiden polls in Goa next year termed it an "unholy alliance". 

TMC MP Mahua Moitra told reporters, “On Tuesday, something happened which every Goan should think about. Vijai Sardesai, who heads Goa Forward Party, is in talks with Congress yet again and announced a possible alliance for the Goa elections.”

“The GFP had entered into a deal with BJP and allowed them to form a government even when people had not given them the mandate,” Moitra added. 

In a video on AITC Goa Twitter handle, the TMC MP said that people of Goa should be aware of this “unholy alliance” and if they want to defeat BJP, the TMC is the only option. 

(With agency inputs)