PANAJI
The much-anticipated alliance between the Congress and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) for the upcoming Zilla Panchayat (ZP) elections has officially fallen apart. Fresh lists of candidates released by both parties on Friday confirmed that they will compete against each other in multiple constituencies, signalling that negotiations for a unified front have completely failed.
Despite the setback, the Congress remains optimistic about finalising an understanding with the Goa Forward Party (GFP), led by Vijai Sardesai. AICC Goa in-charge Manikrao Thakare is expected to visit the State on Saturday to take a final decision in this regard. His arrival on Friday was delayed due to nationwide flight disruptions affecting IndiGo.
GPCC president Amit Patkar said that the Congress, GFP and RGP had originally agreed to come together to counter the BJP. However, during seat-sharing talks, each party put forth its own demands, and the discussions could not reach a conclusion. “Seat-sharing is still undecided as we are evaluating winability. Our AICC leader will be arriving tomorrow, and the final call will be taken,” Patkar said.
The Congress has already declared 22 candidates and is preparing to announce 23 more, including those in constituencies identified for a possible alliance with GFP. Patkar stressed that the party has refrained from naming candidates in areas where negotiations with GFP are still ongoing.
The collapse of the Congress-RGP alliance became unmistakable when the RGP released its second list, featuring nominees in constituencies where Congress candidates had already been declared. In retaliation, Congress decided to field its own contenders against the RGP, sealing the breakdown of talks.
In its second list announced on Friday, the Congress introduced 11 more candidates, including nominees for the St Cruz and Penha-de-Franca seats in North Goa—both of which already have RGP candidates in the fray. With the new additions, Congress has so far announced candidates in 22 ZP constituencies.
The list includes -- Maria Menezes (Gen) in Aldona, Eldrich Bruce D’Souza (Gen) in Penha-de-Franca, Shiney Olivera (Women-OBC) in St Cruz and Krishnanath Thakur (OBC) in Honda.
In South, the party has fielded Ramdas Tamyekar (ST) in Curti, Sanjay Velip (ST) in Guirdolim, Rozario Fernandes (Gen)in Xeldem, Roshan Velip (women) in Barcem, Sumitra Pagi (women OBC) in Cola, Vasant Naik (Gen) in Sancoale and Sandra Rodrigues (Women) in Cortalim.
As per the first list, in North Goa Zilla Panchayat, the Congress has fielded Carmelina Angela Fernandes from Calangute (Women), Sahil Mandrekar from Socorro (General), Sonal Malvankar from Reis Magos (Women), Viju Diukar from Taleigao (ST), Adv. Shejal Kalangutkar from Chimbel (Women), Bhanudas Datta Somnaik from Pale (OBC) and Ayush Sitaram Kerkar from Querim (SC).
For South Goa, the party has announced four names: Manisha Usgaonkar from Usgao-Ganje (Women), Julio Fernandes from Velim (General), Alexinho Da Silva from Curtorim (OBC) and Rajendra Shirodkar from Sanvordem (ST).
