New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said his party and the NCP-Shiv Sena could not forge an alliance for the Goa Assembly polls, but added that they will “remain friends” and the Congress will be with them even after the polls. Will continue to explore opportunities to work together”.
Chidambaram, Congress in-charge for Goa Assembly polls, hit out at the Trinamool Congress (TMC) for not forging an alliance with the Congress, saying the party continued to try to woo Congress leaders despite the proposal for an alliance. The senior Congress leader said he did not receive any instruction from the party leadership to hold talks with the Trinamool Congress and added, “I am sure our leadership had taken into account all the facts and circumstances.”
Chidambaram, in an interview with PTI, said whether the party will announce the name of the chief minister before or after the elections will be decided after consulting all the candidates and the party will run by consensus among them. He also said that the contest in Goa elections is “between the Congress (along with the Goa Forward Party) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and we will be able to get a majority.”
Asked why the Congress could not forge an alliance with other opposition parties, especially the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena, Chidambaram said that the NCP and Shiv Sena are allies of the Congress in Maharashtra and it would have liked to make them allies in Goa as well.
Chidambaram said, “We tried. He made some offers. We made some offers. Unfortunately no meeting was held in this regard. I accept that there were compulsions on both sides and despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach the point of the meeting.” “Nevertheless, we are friends and will remain friends,” he said. After the elections, we will continue to explore opportunities to work closely with the NCP and Shiv Sena.”
After the 2019 assembly elections in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena joined hands with NCP and Congress to form the government, which was named as Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Shiv Sena and the NCP had earlier this month announced that they would contest the Goa elections together. Asked about his criticism of Trinamool Congress for not forging an alliance, Chidambaram said he is not able to understand the position of Trinamool Congress.
“They entered Goa a few months back and my special friend Mamta ji announced in Goa that TMC has forged an alliance and any other party is welcome to join their alliance. The General Secretary of TMC announced that TMC will contest on all 40 seats. Then he tempted Congress MLA Luizinho Faleiro to join TMC.”
Giving details of the developments, he said the Congress announced its first list of candidates, including the name of sitting MLA Reginald Laurenco, on 16 December and four days later, on 20 December, Laurenco was inducted into the TMC.
Chidambaram said, “On December 24, the TMC vice-president met me and suggested that both the parties should work together in Goa. I agreed to make my leadership aware of this suggestion and I did so immediately.” “However, TMC continued to vandalize our leaders, sarpanches, panches, others, for example Vasco and Marmugao are named,” he said.
Chidambaram said, “I did not get any instruction from our leadership to hold talks with TMC. I am sure that our leadership has taken into account all the facts and circumstances. As far as I understand, the matter has ended there.” Asked what measures are being taken in the current assembly to prevent Congress MLAs from switching over to the BJP and this does not happen in the future, the Congress’s Goa election in-charge said “loyalty” is the “top priority” for the party.
He said that the most important measure, which has been implemented in 30 constituencies, is that the candidates recommended by the block have been selected to contest the elections. He said that after the elections, if other parties are ready to support the Congress-led government, the Congress will decide based on the circumstances. Elections for all 40 assembly seats in Goa will be held on February 14.(Agency)