New Delhi: The President of Goa Forward Party, Vijai Sardesai will meet West Bengal Chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) party president Mamata Banerjee. The Vijay Sardesai-led party, is looking to tie up with a major party ahead of next year’s assembly elections.
Sardesai on Friday said that he has been rooting for a strong team. In April this year, the Goa Forward party had quit the BJP claiming that they were anti-social.
“Opposition unity is critical to end this corrupt & communal regime. Let’s get serious about 2022. I’ll call on Mamata Banerjee with my senior party colleagues tomorrow at 10 AM on her invitation,” said Mr Sardesai.
Mr Sardesai, whose party has three MLAs in the assembly, is a key player in Goa. He served as the deputy chief minister in the last BJP government.
Banerjee is on a Goa visit as her party seeks to branch out into new states, after having fortified the TMC’s position on her home turf in the assembly polls.
Congress was the first party that the GFP tried to ally with. After Congress did not take them onboard, the party approached Trinamool Congress.
The elections to the 40-member Goa assembly are slated to be held early next year.
The Congress had won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House in the 2017 Goa Assembly elections, restricting the main opponent BJP to 13. But the saffron party moved to ally with regional parties and came to power under the leadership of Manohar Parrikar.
Mamata slammed BJP yesterday
TMC president Mamata Banerjee on Friday connected ‘fish and football’ to Bengal and Goa said she won’t allow the Centre’s “dadagiri” to happen in the state. The West Bengal Chief Minister, however, said neither she was in the state to capture power nor to become the chief minister of Goa.
“Delhichi dadagiri anik naka (No more bullying from Delhi). I am not an outsider, I don’t want to be the CM of Goa,” Mamata Banerjee said in Konkani in her first address in Panaji.
“I am an Indian, I can go anywhere. If Bengal is my motherland, Goa is also my motherland…I come to Goa, they deface my posters. They (BJP) have mental pollution. They showed me black flags, I said namaste,” Mamata Banerjee said.
Several hoardings carrying pictures of Mamata Banerjee were defaced in Goa ahead of her visit, leading to sharp exchanges between the BJP and TMC.
Mamata Banerjee, who is on a three-day tour of the coastal state, arrived in Goa on Thursday evening. On Friday, actor Nafisa Ali joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Goa in a major boost for the party ahead of next year’s election.
“We believe in democracy and Goa is beautiful. I am not here to capture power, here to help. You love fish, we love fish. You love football, Bengal loves football,” Mamata Banerjee said.
Mamata Banerjee was accompanied by former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, TMC MP Derek O’Brien and local leaders.
After securing a thumping win in the Bengal election, the TMC is trying to increase its national footprint and has made inroads in Goa.
On Saturday, Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to hold a press conference followed by a visit to the Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa and Bodgeshwar Temple at Mapusa.
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