MARGAO
Ahead of the ensuing municipal election for the Margao civic body, one question that has started doing the rounds in the commercial capital is “ whether the Congress and Goa Forward will contest the polls as a unified front against the BJP.
Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai is on record saying he is open for an alliance with the Congress to fight the civil polls to keep the BJP at bay. Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat too has not ruled out the question of an alliance with like-minded parties to contest the civic polls.
The moot question that remains unanswered is simple “ how will the Leader of Opposition go about the job of getting his party leadership to see reason and join hands with the Goa Forward to checkmate the BJP?
Against the backdrop of strong opposition within the Congress for a tie-up with Goa Forward Party, more so from party chief Girish Chodankar, the Opposition Leader, who is expected to lead from the front in Margao against the BJP, has a task cut out for him. He will have to convince the party leadership to opt for the alliance with the regional party.
In the 2015 polls for the Margao Municipal Council, Sardesai-backed Fatorda Forward contested in the 11 seats falling in the Fatorda area of the civic body. Kamat, on the other hand, had concentrated his time and energy in the Margao area of the civic body to checkmate BJP’s strong bid to prove a point or two in the elections.
Assuming that a tie-up between the GFP and the Congress fails to materialize, political observers do not rule out the possibility of a three-cornered contest in Fatorda between the Goa Forward, BJP and the Congress.
In such a scenario, where the Congress and Goa Forward will be left to fight for the same space in Fatorda, political observers wonder whether Sardesai will sit quiet and watch the Congress encroaching into his area or retaliate by fielding Goa Forward-backed candidates in the 11 wards coming under the Margao area.
A tie-up between the two parties, sources say, maybe one option for the two parties to take on the might of the BJP. Sources, however, say a host of questions may come to haunt the Congress leadership before entering into an alliance with the Goa Forward, more so after the regional party had aligned with the BJP after the 2017 Assembly polls.
That’s not all. Sources say local Fatorda Congress leaders may want to know from the party leadership whether the party plans to leave the entire Fatorda for GF or have a tie-up with the regional party only in a few wards, leaving the remaining wards for the Congress to contest.
These and other questions assume significance and come against the backdrop of the fact that the local Congress leaders have been in the process of identifying candidates to contest the ensuing civic polls from Fatorda.
Local Congress leaders further pointed out that leaving all the 11 wards for the GF will only signify that Fatorda will no longer fit in the scheme of things for the party in the future.
