Panaji: AAP Goa president Valmiki Naik on Monday said Goa First alliance was a “non-Congress and non-BJP alliance” and that this position, announced before Ganesh Chaturthi, would not change. He said the alliance was open to other non-Congress, non-BJP parties, but reiterated there was “no point in giving a chance to Congress”.However, Naik’s remarks suggested that cracks have surfaced within Goa First alliance, which is less than a month old.With GFP president Vijai Sardesai hinting that he is willing to recalibrate his election strategy by taking feedback on whether Congress should be included, Naik asked his alliance partner to pick a side.“Sardesai should clarify whether he stood with BJP-Congress joint venture or with Goa First,” said Naik. AAP went on to claim that attempts were being made to break Goa First alliance.Speculation of differences within Goa First alliance was further fuelled when GFP general secretary Durgadas Kamat offered a cryptic response to AAP’s ‘Ek kachori do samosa Congress ka kya barosa’ social media post.“We don’t eat kachori-samosa because we get acidity if we eat this. Our people eat fish curry-rice or khatkhate and patal bhaji, which is our staple diet, and which does not give us acidity,” said Kamat.Naik also alleged that Congress and BJP have a “joint venture” in facilitating political defections, a trend he claimed would continue in the 2027 Goa assembly elections. He said that defections had “reached new heights” in the last decade in Goa, which he said had “made a mockery of democracy.”He said this “joint venture” was behind what he called a “joint venture govt”, giving BJP confidence that it would form govt “no matter who you vote for,” and that Congress had “helped BJP form govt every time.”While AAP asserts that it wants to defeat BJP, Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas put the focus on Congress’ Goy Rakhonn Yatra, saying that the state’s issues could not be addressed merely “by making people walk all over the state”.
