MAPUSA
With the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) closing ranks for the 2027 Assembly elections, Congress working president and Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira has signalled that the doors of the principal Opposition party remain open for an eventual broader alliance, while stressing that any such arrangement must be driven by one objective – defeating the BJP.
Ferreira, however, stopped short of committing Congress to an alliance with GFP and AAP, adopting a cautious and tactical position even as the emerging Opposition arithmetic threatens to divide anti-BJP votes. “If there is a definite desire to defeat the BJP, whether the mood of the State is so desperate to get rid of them, then I think all like-minded forces should be on one side,” Ferreira said.
“If you want to defeat BJP, you remain on this side altogether. If not, you are not going to be able to defeat the BJP,” he added.
His comments came after GFP and AAP formally announced an electoral alliance on Sunday.
The GFP-AAP tie-up has already begun to reshape the Opposition space, with Congress separately also holding discussions with RGP ahead of the 2027 polls.
Asked about the GFP-AAP alliance, Ferreira said he viewed it as potentially the beginning of a larger Opposition realignment rather than necessarily an arrangement aimed at keeping Congress out.
“I think someone has to stitch an alliance. I believe this alliance is a starter to having an alliance with every like-minded party which is out to ensure the defeat of the BJP and definitely not to help the BJP by division of votes,” he said.
Ferreira said Congress would assess any proposal that comes its way. “It may be the first alliance stitched by them and then they may come for talks with us. Then we will have to see what proposals they are putting across the table, if at all they come,” he said.
When asked what Congress would do if GFP and AAP did not approach it, Ferreira declined to speculate. “I will not answer to a hypothetical question. Let’s cross the bar, then we will see how things are shaping, what’s the mood of the people and whether people are accepting or rejecting, and then we will have to find a way forward,” he said.
