OPPOSITION UNITY: ALL TALK, NO WALK

PANAJI
With Assembly elections due in January-February, Goa’s Opposition parties are publicly talking unity.
The Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) have all insisted that defeating the BJP-MGP-independent ruling alliance requires a common front.
But, beyond the rhetoric, the Opposition remains fragmented. Internal turmoil continues to dog some of them, and the committees set up by the Congress and AAP to deal with alliances are still only “exploring”, with no concrete steps visible.
Cong's alliance push amid leadership strains
The Congress, once Goa’s dominant force, has been struggling to steady itself. The abrupt change in guard from Amit Patkar to Girish Chodankar has triggered dissent within the ranks, and the strains are visible.
Chodankar has opened a channel of direct communication with Sardesai's GFP and publicly reiterated his commitment to forging Opposition unity.  “We will be meeting again to hammer out and finalise details, including seat-sharing,” Chodankar said after talks with Sardesai and GFP about a week ago. 
Since then, the latter have begun to sing a different tune. Although Chodankar's spoken word does ring the right sound and signal intent, his party’s internal fissures and unease over the abrupt transition of the leadership team remain unresolved.
Two former functionaries -- Manisha Usgaonkar and Shamila Siddiqui -- known to be aggressive and aligned to ex-president Patkar were first suspended and are now expelled, reflecting the factional dissonance within. However, a positive and notable development in its push for forging Opposition unity came this week with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) setting up a panel under the AICC Goa in-charge Manikrao Thakare to explore alliances.
Yet, the party's diminished strength -- just three MLAs in the 40-member House -- betrays the scale of the challenge it faces in playing the lead role and ensuring all the other Opposition players align to form a single 'United Opposition' to charge into the electoral battlefield and take on the BJP.
AAP: Ambiguity from the top
AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal has kept his cards close. Asked about an alliance with the Congress during his ongoing visit to the State, he said the party’s local committee headed by State president Valmiki Naik would explore the possibilities, summing it up with a cryptic: “Let’s see what happens.”
In Goa, Naik and other local leaders, including its two legislators Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, have been more direct in espousing Opposition unity. “The main aim is to defeat the corrupt BJP government in the State,” Naik has said, adding that the party was open to discussions with Congress and all “like-minded forces” opposed to the BJP.
AAP, meanwhile, has also constituted a committee of senior leaders headed by Naik to examine tie-ups. Chinichinim sarpanch Gerson Gomes, who is AAP working president, and general secretary Prashant Naik are its other members. But Kejriwal’s ambiguity leaves the party’s position unclear, and rivals suspect AAP may eventually prefer to go it alone.
GFP: Sardesai’s pause
The GFP, led by Vijai Sardesai, has oscillated between alliance talk and organisational focus. Last week Sardesai met Chodankar in Margao and described the talks as “cordial and constructive.” He even posted: “This is the first step towards Opposition unity… Goa First. Unite. Win.”
Yet, within a few days, Sardesai constituted a new 'political affairs committee' of his party and chaired a meeting of the panel, where it was decided to put exploring alliances "on pause" and to concentrate on strengthening its own organisation. “We are putting alliance exploration on pause,” he said while addressing the media after the political affairs committee meeting held in Margao.
With just one MLA (Sardesai himself), GFP’s leverage lies in Salcete, where in 2022 the results delivered six of eight seats to the Opposition -- three to the Congress, two to the AAP and one to GFP. Sardesai knows the arithmetic, but seemingly remains wary of making premature commitments.
RGP: Internal turmoil
The Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), which stunned observers by winning one seat and a sizeable 9% vote share in 2022, has been riven by internal battles for months. Its lone MLA, Viresh Borkar, has assumed leadership, but factional disputes which scalped its former 'supremo', Manoj Parab, who quit the party and politics altogether, are refusing to die down.
Borkar, however, insists he is working to put things in order. “We are consolidating, strengthening, and preparing for the elections,” he said.
Congress' Chodankar says he has kept channels open, but the persistent instability within RGP has diminished its stature in Goa's Opposition electoral space.
Unity narrative, fragile reality
The BJP holds 28 seats, MGP 2, independents 3 -- a total of 33 in the 40-member House. The Opposition, by contrast, is scattered: Congress 3, AAP 2, GFP 1, RGP 1.
The ruling alliance’s strength, both in numbers and organisationally, makes unity a foremost strategy for the Opposition. Without coordination, it risks splitting votes and handing the BJP easier electoral turf to navigate.
The narrative of Opposition unity is indeed strong. Leaders across parties repeat the mantra that “unity is essential to defeat BJP.” Committees have been formed, meetings claimed to be held, and statements repeatedly issued. 
Yet, the reality is stark. No binding alliance has been clinched. No seat-sharing formula has been discussed, and the underlying mistrust persists. Congress and AAP accuse each other of encroaching on constituencies. GFP oscillates between alliance talk and its own organisation-building focus, while RGP has for months remained unstable and in a state of continuous flux.
As the election clock ticks, the Opposition risks being caught in its own talk, with no real walk of unity to show.