PANAJI
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Praful Patel on Sunday reiterated yet again that the party is keen on a pre-poll alliance with “like-minded political parties and individuals”.
Speaking at a public meeting held at Azad Maidan in Panaji on the occasion of the inauguration of the new central office of the NCP office in Goa, Patel said, “We all hope that there will be a new beginning which will come in the politics of Goa in the year 2021 onwards. NCP will work shoulder to shoulder with all Goans to ensure that a new secular and good government is established in Goa. We would not mind aligning with like-minded political parties and individuals.”
Patel continued to fume over the failure of the Congress to forge an alliance with the NCP, prior to and after the 2017 polls, which he said resulted in the downfall of the single-largest elected party back then.
“They denied us the traditional seats that we have normally contested from in 2017 and refused to align with us,” the former Union Civil Aviation Minister stated while accusing the erstwhile Congress governments of creating issues ranging from coal transportation, Mhadei water sharing and Dabolim airport issue.
Churchill refuses to warm up to possibility of NCP-Cong alliance
PANAJI: NCP’s lone Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao refused to warm up to the possibility of aligning with the Congress party and urged senior NCP leader Praful Patel to consider such an alliance only on 50:50 seat ratio.
Churchill called the Congress a “bundle of diseases” and accused the party of bringing coal into Goa and called upon the present government not to expand the disease of coal transportation through the State. “This time, I request Praful Patel not to get into the chaos of alliance with Congress. If you do want an understanding with the Congress, we want 20 seats out of 40 for NCP. We have the strength and we have the votes,” said the Benaulim MLA.
…Congress responsible for SWR double-tracking
PANAJI: Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao on Sunday alleged that the double-tracking of the South Western Railway in Goa was backed by the Congress when it was proposed in 2011. Alemao, who was yet to firmly back the ongoing agitation against the double-tracking project, said at the NCP public meeting at Azad Maidan here that both Congress MPs - - Francisco Sardinha and the late Shantaram Naik - - had actively supported the proposal included in the railway budget then.
