GOA GETS A PARTY OF PARTIES

The TMC’s entry is the big news in the Goa election. Elsewhere, the mix ’n match of state politics continues even as the BJP tries to stave off anti-incumbency

- KIRAN D. TARE

On January 7, Mahua Moitra, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) poll in-charge for Goa, proposed a grand alliance of opposition parties against the ruling BJP for the coming assembly election in the state. The alliance, she said, should consist of the TMC, its ally Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), the Congress and its ally Goa Forward Party (GFP), and even the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Moitra’s idea did create a buzz but failed to impress the parties concerned.

The TMC’s re-entry after a decade in Goa has rapidly changed the political scene in the state. What earlier looked like a straight contest between the BJP and Congress has turned into a fourcornered battle. The formation of new alliances and the end of old tie-ups have been the highlight of this election. The TMC made its presence felt with a grand surprise in October last year when it inducted state Congress president Luizinho Faleiro, a former chief minister of the state. This was followed by the entry of several prominent individuals, including authors and an environmental activist. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has toured Goa twice, and the party had also extended a hand of friendship to the GFP, which is dominant in the Madgaon area. Election strategist Prashant Kishor had favoured the GFP merging with the TMC and making its chief, Vijai Sardesai, their chief ministerial candidate. Sardesai declined the offer and chose to go with the Congress.