PANAJI
The Congress party in Goa has ruled out alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections, which are scheduled on December 13.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Goa in-charge Manikrao Thakare has constituted a high-level committee of senior Congress leaders to oversee preparations for the ZP polls and to decide on alliance if required.
The committee comprises senior party leaders including GPCC president Amit Patkar, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, CWC member Girish Chodankar, South Goa MP Capt Viriato Fernandes, and MLAs Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira and Altone D’Costa. Senior Vice President M K Shaikh is also part of the committee.
Addressing a press conference, Thakare said that AAP will not be part of India Alliance in the ZP election. “There is no question of having an alliance with AAP. How can the Congress form an alliance with a party who speaks against Congress leadership or the party? How can we forward our hand towards that party,” he said.
Thakare said that the party has constituted a committee to decide the ZP election strategy and it will decide whether to have an alliance or fight ZP polls alone. “The committee will decide unanimously on whether we should go for an alliance or not. The committee will consult the workers and recommend to us and accordingly will decide,” he said.
