Goa Elections 2022: BJP, Congress leap into action as exit polls predict hung House

With exit polls predicting a fractured mandate in Goa, political parties in fray are already prepping up for post-poll scenarios and alliance possibilities. Both the Congress and the BJP have rushed their firefighting leaders to the coastal state to talk to regional and new entrants in the contest, who might emerge as kingmakers on March 10.

The possibility of a hung House seems to have forced the Congress to change its stance of going it alone in the polls and is now open to joining forces with “anti-BJP parties”, including the Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress. 

“Whichever party is against the BJP, we will talk with them and we are ready to take them on board. I am not talking about any particular party now. Any party that does not want to support the BJP, we are willing to accommodate them”.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi brief him about the party’s prospects of retaining power in the state. Sawant will later fly to Mumbai for a meeting with the BJP’s Goa in-charge, Devendra Fadnavis.

Read More | Goa Exit Polls 2022: Neck-and-neck fight between BJP, Congress likely to throw fractured mandate

Earlier in the day, Sawant said the central BJP leadership is already in talks with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to seek its support, if the saffron outfit falls short of a few numbers to form government.

Talking to PTI, Sawant said the BJP is optimistic that it will get more than 22 seats (as against the majority mark of 21), but if it falls short of the numbers, “the party has also kept open the option of seeking the support of independents and the MGP”.

In the 2017 Goa Assembly polls, the Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats. But, the BJP, which had bagged 13 seats, quickly tied-up with the Deepak Dhavalikar-led MGP (Goa’s oldest regional outfit), the Goa Forward Party and independents to form government headed by Manohar Parrikar.

In 2019, when Sawant became the CM after Parrikar’s demise, two MGP ministers were dropped from the state cabinet. This time, the MGP contested the state Assembly elections in alliance with the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC).

MGP legislator Sudin Dhavalikar had on Saturday said his party will decide its stand after the Goa election results by taking the TMC into confidence, but will “never support” Pramod Sawant as chief minister. Sawant had sacked MGP ministers from his cabinet, he said, but did not categorically rule out supporting the BJP again.

Exit polls on Monday suggested a neck-and-neck fight between the BJP and the Congress with none of them touching the half-way mark to form government. While both the parties may end up winning 15-16 seats each, the TMC-MGP alliance and the AAP are expected to win four seats each.