VASCO
A NCP delegation led by state president Jose Philip D'Souza met party supremo Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel in Mumbai on Friday, but NCP’s lone MLA Churchill Alemao was not present at the meeting.
When contacted, D’Souza said he along with General Secretaries Pritam Naik, Sanjay Barde and others discussed possible alliances and strategies for the upcoming assemble elections in the State.
Asked about Alemao’s absence at the meeting, D’Souza said: “An earlier plan of meeting party leaders along with Alemao some days ago was cancelled due to the busy schedule of the national leaders and hence, Alemao was not present for this second meeting.”
"There is no denying that our MLA Churchill Alemao had contested Lok Sabha elections on the TMC ticket and I have also heard that the TMC had contacted him again this time. We have full trust in our MLA and there is nothing to worry, so the question of discussions of Alemao and TMC with our national leaders does not arise at all.”
D’Souza said he had met Pawar and spoke at length on elections strategies for Goa.
“We then met Patel and also discussed about elections in Goa. We expressed how and why an alliance with like-minded parties is important for Goa elections and how the NCP is successfully running the Maharashtra government with an alliance," said D’Souza.
“We requested our national leaders to talk to Congress on an alliance. We want all like-minded parties to come together to contest the Goa assembly elections at least for the sake of people who do not want to bring the BJP back to power.”
“It is not that we don't have candidates in all constituencies but when we contest against each other, we are only dividing secular votes which is to the BJP’s advantage. Seat sharing can be done at a later stage once an alliance can be taken up. But we have faith in our national leaders to take a decision in the matter and we are geared up to contest the assembly election with or without alliance," said D’Souza.
