NCP Goa Chief Jose Philip D’Souza along with party leaders addressing the media at Navelim on Sunday. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
The opposition unity showed signs of further cracking, with the Nationalist Congress party (NCP) accusing the Congress for using smaller parties as tissue paper as the Sharad Paward-led party has unveiled plans to field candidates in at least five constituencies for the South Goa Zilla Panchayat seat.
Party leaders led by NCP Goa Chief Jose Philip D’Souza and Party senior vice-president Avinash Bhonsle slammed the Big Brother (Congress) for ignoring the NCP in the scheme of things. They reminded the Congress leaders that the Principal Opposition party had taken support of the non-BJP parties in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but has forgotten the NCP in the seat sharing discussions with likeminded parties for the upcoming Zilla Panchayat polls.
Jose Philip has warned that the Congress and other parties will come to know to know the strength of NCP in the Zilla Panchayat polls. “We will field candidates in around five seats in South Goa. The names of candidates will be unveiled next week”, he said.
He said the Congress party being the Big Brother should have gone to the smaller parties to take them on board before setting in process the seat sharing discussions. Jose Philip has warned that unless the non-BJP parties come together, all talks to defeat the BJP will not fructify.
“The Congress had taken the NCP in the loop in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, but now the main opposition party has ignored our party. It appears that the Congress want to use the smaller parties as tissue paper. Our High Command has given us the green signal to field candidates in five seats in South Goa. Our party is holding meetings in North Goa to field candidates for the North Goa ZP seat”, he added.
Party leader Avinash Bhonsle said the Congress considers itself as a Big brother, but is facing decimation everywhere. “We have seen the fate of Congress in the Bihar election. The Congers should change its attitude towards the smaller parties”, he said.
He demanded to know why the Congress has neglected the NCP when the party is holding talks with the Goa Forward and Revolutionary Goans party for the coming ZP polls. “I want to tell the Congress that the NCP cannot be ignored. Hence, we have come to show our strength. The South Goa Lok sabha seat would have gone to the BJP if not the unity of all the opposition parties. There has to be unity of opposition parties. A fake narrative is being created by deliberately keeping the NCP out in the seat sharing understanding with the opposition parties”, he said.
NCP Mahila Chief Sandra Fernandes wondered why the Congress leaders have not come down to the ZP constituencies ahead of the ZP general election. “For the 2024 Benaulim ZP bye-poll, Congress leaders were in Benaulim, but we have not found them in the constituency”, she demanded to know.
