Goa polls 2022: Congress announces pre-poll alliance with GFP

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming 2022 Goa Assembly elections, Congress and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) on Saturday (December 18) announced a pre-poll alliance. 

Addressing a press conference in Panaji, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Goa, Dinesh Gundu Rao, confirmed the alliance between Congress and the GFP in the coastal state. 

"After (GFP chief) Vijai Sardesai met our leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and expressed his support to the Congress saying that he wants to work with us to defeat the communal and corrupt BJP government in Goa and to bring about a change in Goa, we welcomed his move," Rao was quoted as saying by PTI. 

Further, he said, Congress and GFP have trust in each other. “In politics, there is always a scope for friendship, alliances, and we have mutual trust and confidence in each other," the Congress leader said.

Rao said he is confident the Congress-GFP alliance will oust BJP in the state. "We will be going to the elections together and I expect that this alliance will drive more people towards joining the Congress. I am sure that in this election, the people have decided to reject the BJP as they want a stable government in the state," he added.

The details of seat sharing between the two parties would be announced later, Rao said. 

GFP president Vijay Sardesai and MLA Vinod Palyekar, along with independent legislator Prasad Gaonkar, had paid a visit to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi on November 30. 

GFP was earlier in alliance with the current BJP-led government in Goa, however, withdrew its support in July 2019 after its all three MLAs, including party president Vijai Sardesai, were dropped from the cabinet.

(With agency inputs)