New Delhi: Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai has opened the door to the ‘Goa First’ alliance for the Congress, just three weeks after his party joined hands with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to form a ‘non-BJP, non-Congress’ front for the 2027 Assembly elections. The Opposition cannot hope to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while keeping the principal Opposition party out, Sardesai said.
The AAP-GFP alliance was announced on 13 September, with AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Sardesai pitching ‘Goa First’ as an alternative to the BJP and Congress. In an interview to ThePrint, Sardesai has said that the platform needs to accommodate the Congress as well.
“The general tenor of people’s expectation is that there should be a grand alliance of all political parties and oust the BJP. Now we had formed an alliance. They didn’t disapprove of that alliance, but they said that bracketing it as a non-Congress non-BJP, and Congress being the principal Opposition party doesn’t make us into a very plausible solution to the people’s problems,” Sardesai told ThePrint. “Then it is not practicable to keep the Congress out and yet oust the BJP on our own. This is the people’s opinion.”
Sardesai said there was growing fatigue with the BJP’s 15-year rule in the state. “There is a section of voters who don’t vote for the BJP in Goa. I don’t mean only the minorities, but I mean certain sections who are not inclined towards the BJP. And the BJP is ruling for the last 15 years. So there is some sort of fatigue when it comes to the Goan people and they want to get rid of them,” he said.
His comments come after AAP stepped up its attack on him. AAP Goa president Valmiki Naik has said ‘Goa First’ is open to other parties but excludes Congress. AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal is also in Goa campaigning for the ‘Anti- BJP/Congress alliance”.
Sardesai hit back at AAP for targeting the Opposition instead of the BJP. “In Goa we don’t understand why you would suddenly choose to attack the Opposition and not target the ruling party. And you are not conceding to the expectation of the public sentiment,” he said.
“If I am an ally, you cannot publicly give me an ultimatum asking me whether I am with the people or Congress-BJP joint venture,” Sardesai remarked in a conversation with ThePrint.
He also pointed to AAP’s earlier position that ‘Goa First’ was a platform that other Opposition parties could join. “Everybody, including the AAP, has been on the record saying that it is a broad platform which we have erected and which can be occupied by other Opposition parties,” he said.
Sardesai questioned the AAP’s criticism of the Congress over defections, saying the party itself had faced many. “People also found that it was a dichotomy on part of AAP because they also faced a defection in its ranks. And they were lecturing the Congress here,” he said.
He said the four Opposition parties in Goa could eventually come together. “There are four political parties which are in the Opposition, two coming together and keeping the other two separate and then all the four coming together in the form of a grand alliance, would that not be a practicable solution?” he said.
Sardesai also said Congress should have taken the lead earlier, but that should not rule out a larger alliance now. “It should have been the Congress which should have brought us together. They didn’t do it at that time, that doesn’t mean we are going to keep nailing them on the cross for that. We have to see what is best possible in the limited time available with the limited resources that we have,” he said.
Sardesai said his position was driven by Goa’s political circumstances, not the equations between AAP and Congress elsewhere. “What happens in Punjab is of no concern to me as a regional political party. My stand is very clear that I have to go by what Goa wants and Goa needs,” he said.
“I’m bothered about what the Goan people want. And I represent only Goa.” he told ThePrint. “I think better sense should prevail because this is what the people want, if we are going to challenge the expectations of the people, the people will teach us a lesson,” he said.
A three-term legislator from Fatorda, Sardesai is an ex-Congressman who founded the GFP in 2016. His party chose to support the BJP after the 2017 Assembly elections, and he became a minister in the then Manohar Parrikar-led government. The GFP now has one representative in the Assembly.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Also Read: AAP-GFP tie-up: What Goa Forward Party’s Vijai Sardesai brings to the table