PANAJI
State NCP president Jose Phillip D'Souza on Tuesday came up with a unique analogy to describe the Congress' lack of clarity vis-a-vis the issue of forming a coalition with "like-minded" parties, suggesting that the party may allow the ground to slip from under its feet ahead of the 2022 polls.
D'Souza likened the Congress to old landlords, who own large tracts of land on paper, but in reality the land, he said, the properties had been already illegally hogged by squatters.
"The old landowners have documents to several properties but have never been to these properties. They have never seen their land, but say that they have land or a hill. But in reality, the land is captured and there are many houses which have sprung up," D'Souza said, urging Congress to treat the alliance with the NCP and like-minded parties as a "one-point programme" to oust the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Do they feel that we cannot do anything and that we cannot move ahead without an alliance? That is wrong. We are a national party, we also have an MLA. We have a representation in the 40 (MLAs). If there is no alliance, the secular voters would be divided... If we do not come together, the non-BJP votes may swing to the BJP, sensing no unity," D'Souza told reporters here.
When asked about the 15-day deadline given earlier his month by NCP national general secretary Praful Patel to the Congress in Goa for announcing the alliance between the two parties, D'Souza said that his party's central leadership was in talks with the Congress's central leaders.
"When our leader Praful Patel came to Goa the last time, he gave 15 days for the alliance to happen. Yes, our leaders are working on it. They are talking to the central leaders of the Congress. I do not want to comment on what my leader said. I respect my leader and trust them. They will make a decision and we will go ahead based on that decision," D'Souza said.
D'Souza also hinted that he may contest from the Dabolim assembly constituency, instead of Vasco, because of a demand made by his supporters, nearly 16,000 to 17,000 of whom reside in New Vaddem, Vaddem and Chicalim, areas which were previously attached to the Vasco assembly constituency, but were switched to Dabolim, after the delimitation exercise.
"New Vaddem, Vaddem and Chicalim voters were my voters, around 16,000 to 17,000 of them. My voters were separated during delimitation. I have not been winning elections since," D'Souza said.
