Congress is reaching out to AAP and regional parties in Goa for a united opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2027 assembly elections.

Updated on: Aug 29, 2026, 15:12:56 IST

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s message during his visit to Goa last week was ‘Ekvott’, a Konkani word for unity, as the party seeks to bring opposition parties together ahead of next year’s assembly elections.

“In the coming elections, we need to all come together and fight together. They have all assured me that we will all fight together and win together. I’m happy that the Goa congress leaders will work together, courageously…,” Kharge said outside the meeting venue in Goa last week.

The Congress has reached out to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and regional outfits, including the Goa Forward Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party, for talks on a possible alliance to take on the BJP in the February 2027 polls.

State Congress president Girish Chodankar said, “It is the demand of the people that the opposition parties come together and we are trying to bring everyone together. We are still open to parties who are willing to take on the BJP. The people of Goa want everyone to come together to defeat the BJP. I have spoken to both leaders — Viresh Borkar and Valmiki Naik — talks with the two will progress over the next few days.”

Viresh Borkar is the lone MLA and national president of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), a nativist Goa-based political party that secured around 10% of the vote share in 2022, while Valmiki Naik is the state president of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Both have publicly said they were not opposed to an alliance, but stressed that it would be possible only if the opposition parties can agree on a common minimum programme.

Why the opposition is pushing for unity

The reasons are clear. In the previous general assembly elections held in 2022, Goa saw a five-cornered contest. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested all 40 seats on its own, but the opposition was split between the Congress and the Goa Forward Party (GFP), which were in an alliance; the Aam Aadmi Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party, both of which contested on their own; as well as the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and the Trinamool Congress, which contested in an alliance.

As a result, the BJP was able to scrape through, winning 20 seats in the 40-member House. Post the election results, Goa Congress in-charge P Chidambaram said the results were a reflection of the vote being “hopelessly split between opposition parties.”

That result has shaped not just the opposition’s thinking but also that of civil society groups, which have demanded that the opposition should fight unitedly to defeat the BJP.

A group of prominent activists under the name ‘Priority Goa’ has demanded that the opposition contest unitedly ‘one-on-one’ against the BJP.

“BJP’s victories are largely due to fragmented opposition votes. On average, BJP secures only about 33% of the vote share, while the remaining 67% is split among multiple opposition candidates. This division allows BJP to win without majority support. All opposition parties must agree to a united front, fielding one common candidate per constituency against BJP. This ensures a direct one-on-one contest, prevents vote-splitting, and reflects the true will of the majority electorate,” the group said in a statement, while also stressing that ‘defectors’ should not be given tickets nor should those who previously aligned with the BJP.

Political parties have echoed the sentiment.

“The AAP’s stand is that the BJP needs to be reduced to single digits and we are ready to do whatever it takes to achieve that including an alliance. But the Congress party is an older party in Goa and if any alliance talks should happen it should not be at the last minute, along with seat sharing,” Naik said.

He, however, added that the AAP’s agreement was not unconditional.

“We want to make sure that the common minimum programme includes an issue like 39A at the top. We are not interested in an alliance that only changes the name of the party in power. We also need a government that does things differently. If alliance efforts are made by all parties we are definitely going to be part of it. There needs to be some confidence building and team building done before that to make sure,” he added.

Section 39A is a controversial section added to Goa’s Town and Country Planning Act, which allows for piecemeal changes to the Regional Plan and has been the subject of several protests and a demand for its rescission by major opposition political parties.

An AAP-Congress pairing is likely to run into rough weather. The AAP’s strongholds are two constituencies where Catholics dominate, where the Congress is also strong and the BJP has little representation or chance of winning. Letting these seats go will upset the Congress organisation in these constituencies. Besides, in Punjab, where the AAP is in power, the Congress is seen as the primary opposition.

A more willing partner is the RGP, which secured 10% of the vote in 2022 despite winning only one seat. Its lone MLA and president said his party was willing to align provided a common minimum programme was agreed upon.

“The feeling is that the BJP can be defeated only if everyone comes together. The Congress has approached us and we are willing to hold talks. But there will be no compromise on the issues that we have been taking up,” Borkar said.

The RGP has formally responded to the Congress offer of an alliance, provided that the alliance was “not merely seat sharing” but founded on a common understanding of “Goa’s identity, land, employment, environment, sustainable development and protection of the state’s social and cultural character.” They also demanded that talks conclude within 30 days.

However, it is the Congress’ 2022 alliance partner, the Goa Forward Party, which has publicly expressed its unwillingness to join a joint opposition alliance.

“Our party had decided to keep alliance talks on hold. We have suspended alliance talks at the moment. The way the Congress is behaving, the people feel that the Congress is working towards a hat-trick (of defections) and as such there will be no difference if there is an alliance or not,” Sardesai said.

“When you have cheated the people of Goa twice, people are looking at you with doubts that you are looking to secure a hattrick. In order that does not happen, we will take the fight on, independently if necessary,” he added.

Sardesai was referring to Congress MLAs ‘defecting’ to the BJP en masse in 2019 as well as in 2022, the second time despite taking an ‘oath’ not to do so, via signed affidavits as well as before a temple, church and a mosque.

Eleven Congress MLAs were elected in 2022, but eight have since ‘defected’ to the BJP. The AAP has two members, while the GFP and the RGP have one each. Together, the parties had a combined vote share of around 46% in the 2022 assembly polls, about 13 percentage points higher than the BJP’s tally of 33% vote share in the polls.

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