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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has two MLAs in Goa, has been facing continuous setbacks. In the month of January this year, he left the party after Amit Palekar was removed from the post of President. Along with him, many important leaders have also separated from the party. The problem of AAP is that the leaders who left the party were very vocal and were the face of the party in Goa. In such a situation, AAP does not immediately have any face who can help it. At the same time, the continuously struggling Goa Forward Party was also troubled by the wavering attitude of the Congress and was trying to find a new partner. It is believed that some other small parties may also join this alliance.

This alliance has been named 'Goa First Alliance' to bring together Goa centric parties. On this occasion, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said that till now people had no option except Congress or Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On this occasion, he said that those who want to defeat BJP and those who are upset with the cheating of Congress can vote for this alliance. Kejriwal claimed that this time a Goa First coalition government will be formed.

Old leaders gave a shock

AAP had at one time made Elvis Gomes the party's CM candidate and state president. He first left the party and then joined Congress. Similarly, Amit Palekar first resigned from AAP and then joined Congress. Similarly, leaders like Rahul Mhambre and Shri Krishna Parab have also left AAP in Goa.

Has 2022 given any advice?

In 2022, Aam Aadmi Party had fielded its candidates on 39 out of 40 seats. Out of those, only 2 candidates had won. However, its vote percentage was 6.77 percent which was more than many old parties. That year, Goa Forward Party contested elections on only 3 seats and won only one. Its share in the total vote percentage was only 1.84 percent. Then GFP was in alliance with Congress. Congress had fielded candidates on 37 seats but won only 11. In this way this alliance was left with only 12 seats.

These results had shown that AAP alone is not that big a force in Goa. In such a situation, due to the departure of many leaders, AAP has realized that it needs a strong partner who can help it to establish its foothold. At the same time, GFP is also able to fight on very few seats by continuously going with big parties. This is the reason why GFP, which was in talks with Congress a few months ago, has now entered into an alliance with AAP.

What is the history of Goa Forward Party?

Prabhakar Timble may have become the first head of this party formed in the year 2016, but the brain behind the party was Vijay Sardesai. When this party contested the 2017 assembly elections, it said that this party can form an alliance with anyone except BJP. The reason was that this party was formed in Goa in opposition to BJP. However, later Vijay Sardesai became a minister and even Deputy CM in the BJP government.

Who is Vijay Sardesai?

Vijay Sardesai has been winning the election from Fatroda assembly seat for three consecutive times. In 2012, he won as an independent but since then he has been winning twice on Goa Forward Party ticket. He was also the Goa Deputy CM from March 2019 to July 2019 in the same government of Pramod Sawant. Earlier, he had also been a minister in Manohar Parripar's government from March 2017 to July 2019. Vijay Sardesai started his career with Congress. In the initial days, he was also the President of Goa Pradesh Youth Congress but in 2012 he contested the elections as an independent candidate.

Why the compulsion for alliance?

While announcing the alliance, Arvind Kejriwal said that it is hidden in itself why this alliance was formed. He alleged that MLAs who win on Congress tickets also join BJP. He also said that he wants to consolidate the anti-BJP vote.

Understand this from figures. In 2022, BJP got 33.31 percent votes but it got 20 seats. At the same time, Congress got only 11 seats with 23.46 percent votes. TMC, which contested 26 seats, did not get a single seat but got 5.21 percent votes. Similarly, NCP got 1.124 percent votes, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party got 2 seats with 7.6 percent votes, GFP got 1 seat with 1.84 percent votes and AAP got 6.77 percent votes. The Revolutionary Goan Party won 1 seat but received 9.8 percent of the votes.

Now if we add the vote percentage of these small parties only, it becomes 32.33 percent, which is much more than Congress and almost close to BJP. Now Kejriwal's effort is that the more damage he can cause to Congress, the more beneficial it will be.