Panaji (Goa): The results of the Goa Assembly elections will be announced on Thursday. However, neither Congress nor the BJP is likely to get an absolute majority in the state as per the exit polls. Therefore, the parties got down to formulating their strategies keeping in mind possible post-poll scenarios with the regional outfit MGP getting wooed by the BJP as well as the Congress, the two main contenders of power in the tiny coastal state which has a history of political volatility and shifting of loyalties.
A day after the exit polls predicted a hung Assembly in Goa, the Congress focused on keeping its flock together and plans to shift all its candidates to a resort, a senior party leader said.
It is wooing the MGP, Goa’s oldest regional party which has ruled the state in the past, to make up for any shortfall in seats.
On the other hand, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday called on Sudin Dhavalikar to support the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.
The two leaders had a discussion for about an hour. Chidambaram also said talks were on between leaders of his party and other opposition outfits in Goa ahead of counting of votes to stitch an anti-BJP alliance.
READ: Goa: Congress packs its MLAs in hotels ahead of election results
“We are willing to work with the other parties,” said the former Union minister, who is All India Congress Committee’s election observer for Goa.
“Our goal is to forge a non-BJP front and such efforts are going on in other parts of India. Why not make the same effort in Goa?” he said. The Congress veteran’s remarks came amid reports that his party leaders were in talks with their AAP and TMC counterparts.
When contacted, MGP legislator Sudin Dhavalikar, who is the brother of party head Deepak Dhavalikar, appeared non-committal on supporting any party at this juncture and said they will take a call on an alliance after consulting their pre-poll ally the TMC once the results are out.
Dhavalikar said that important decisions have been taken regarding the establishment of the next government.
Our doors are open to all if you want to establish power in the state, the doors of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party are open for Congress and BJP.
In a way, Dhavalikar has claimed the post of Chief Minister, saying that he will take anyone who comes with us.
For this, he has appealed to both parties for discussion.
In another development, the Congress claimed on Wednesday that talks were already underway with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for obtaining support for government formation in Goa if there was a hung Assembly. State Congress chief Girish Chodankar told reporters that AAP leaders were already in talks with Congress leaders.
AAP has said that under no circumstances it will support the BJP, Chodankar said, claiming that the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) too will support Congress.
The BJP could form government in Goa in 2017 only with the backing of the Goa Forward Party and MGP, but later it "tried to finish off these parties," Chodankar alleged. The fight was never between Congress and the BJP. The contest was between Old and New Congress, he quipped. By "old" and "new" Chodankar apparently meant the Congress leaders who crossed over to the saffron party after 2017, and those who are presently with the Congress.
(With agency inputs)
