THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) President Manoj Parab on Wednesday delivered a pointed critique of the Congress and the Goa Forward Party (GFP), alleging that leaders from both parties orchestrated a coordinated effort to sink the proposed Zilla Panchayat (ZP) election alliance.
Parab said the breakdown was not accidental but the result of “calculated sabotage” led by GFP President Vijai Sardesai and State Congress President Amit Patkar.
According to him, the two leaders worked to undermine the RGP as part of a larger political design that, he claimed, suited the BJP’s interests.
“This was a deliberate attempt to finish our party,” Parab said.
He cited what he described as confusion within the Congress ranks as evidence of disinterest in forging a credible partnership.
AICC observer Manikrao Thakre, Parab noted, arrived in Goa “completely unaware” that sitting Congress members from Santa Cruz planned to contest again. For Parab, this signalled organisational incoherence and a lack of commitment during the negotiations.
“Our alliance wasn’t broken by us; Vijai Sardesai broke it,” Parab said, escalating his attack by accusing Sardesai and Patkar of adopting a patronising approach toward the RGP.
He framed their conduct as an attempt to dictate terms to a party anchored in the Bahujan constituency — a narrative the RGP has increasingly used to differentiate itself from Goa’s established political formations.
Countering Sardesai’s claim that the RGP was never serious about the alliance, Parab argued that his party had shown flexibility, even offering a winnable seat to the Congress. “If this does not show our intent, nothing will,” he said.
Parab further alleged that Sardesai sought to leverage the RGP for his own political manoeuvring.
“He told me, ‘let us get together and get Congress on its feet.’ He was trying to use the RGP to defeat the Congress,” Parab claimed, describing the strategy as both contradictory and opportunistic.
Despite targeting the top leadership of the Congress and the GFP, Parab acknowledged that Congress MLAs Altone D’Costa and Yuri Alemao made sincere attempts to salvage the arrangement.
He argued that internal resistance from Congress block committees, combined with Sardesai’s “disruptive role,” rendered the alliance untenable.
