New Delhi: Ruling out an alliance with the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday joined hands with the Shiv Sena for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections.
NCP’s Goa in-charge Praful Patel lashed out at the Congress for not confirming to the alliance despite the offer.
“We made an offer to Congress to jointly contest Goa polls, but in vain. They neither said yes nor no,” he said, ANI reported.
The former union minister, however, said the NCP-Shiv Sena alliance will not contest on all the 40 assembly seats in Goa.
“The NCP and Shiv Sena will jointly fight the Goa polls, not all 40 seats, but a substantial number,” he said.
The NCP leader further said the first list of the alliance for the Goa elections may be released Thursday followed by the other lists.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut too lambasted the Congress, saying it is the grand old party’s “misfortune” that they did not join the alliance.
“It’s Congress’ misfortune that they didn't form an alliance with us. We will show the power of the Shiv Sena-NCP alliance in the upcoming Goa Assembly elections. Only our party will come to power,” he said, ANI reported.
The Congress has so far tied with the regional Goa Forward Party (GFP) for the upcoming polls.
There were speculations earlier that the grand old party would join hands with West Bengal Chief Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the coastal state.
The TMC has joined hands with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
The BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have so far not joined hands with any party in Goa.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced lawyer and social worker Amit Palekar as his party’s chief ministerial candidate for Goa.
Palekar is from the OBC Bhandari community, which accounts for about 35 percent of Goa’s population.
Polling in Goa will take place in a single phase on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.