Punjab Newsline | Goa

Goa’s political landscape witnessed a new development on Sunday as the Aam Aadmi Party and Goa Forward Party joined hands to form a new political alliance ahead of the state Assembly elections. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced the alliance in the presence of Goa Forward Party chief Vijay Sardesai. The alliance has been named ‘Goa First Alliance’. Kejriwal said the alliance would emerge as a strong alternative to the BJP and Congress and claimed that the next government in Goa would be formed by the ‘Goa First’ alliance.

Addressing a joint press conference with Sardesai at Abolim Hall, Kejriwal said there could not have been a better occasion than Ganesh Chaturthi to begin a new chapter in Goa’s politics. He said people in Goa had been witnessing politics without a genuine alternative for several years. According to him, voters support one party during elections, but after the results, the same party joins hands with its rival to form the government.

Kejriwal alleged that in 2017, people voted for Congress after being unhappy with the BJP, but Congress legislators subsequently helped the BJP form the government. He said the same situation was repeated in 2022 when people voted against the BJP, but Congress again provided the numbers that enabled the BJP to form the government.

Kejriwal said Goans had been betrayed twice and were not in a mood to be betrayed for a third time. He alleged that the BJP and Congress criticise each other during elections but later come together to form governments. He also claimed that more than half of the members of the present government had come from the Congress.

Targeting the current government, Kejriwal alleged that it had no clear ideology and was driven by a “pocket first” approach. He accused the government of allowing mafia influence to spread across Goa and alleged that builders and contractors were ruling the state.

Kejriwal further claimed that the BJP would not secure a majority in the upcoming election and alleged that several Congress legislators could eventually move to the BJP. He said the ‘Goa First Alliance’ had been formed to prevent such a situation.

Calling the alliance a genuine political alternative, Kejriwal said it was not merely a theoretical or electoral arrangement. He claimed that the alliance would remain loyal to the people of Goa and would contest the election with the aim of forming a full-majority ‘Goa First’ government.